JUSTICE LEAGUE Ramping Up At Warner Bros. Again!!

We've been down this road before. Back in 2008, heading into the writer's strike, Warner Bros. was hurrying to get a JUSTICE LEAGUE movie into production with George Miller at the helm. Adam Brody (The Flash), D.J. Cotrona (Superman), Common (Green Lantern), Megan Gale (Wonder Woman), Santiago Cabrera (Aquaman), Hugh Keays (Martian Manhunter) and Armie Hammer (Batman) would have made up the grouping, battling the villainous likes of Jay Baruchel (Maxwell Lord) and Teresa Palmer (Talia al Ghul). However, a ballooning budget and a desperate need for script rewrites that couldn't take place as a result of the strike ultimately yanked the plug on the production.

Warner Bros. is heading back to the drawing board though, according to Variety, as the studio has secretly hired Will Beall (GANGSTER SQUAD) to pen a new script for a JUSTICE LEAGUE flick. Beall has already been working on a LETHAL WEAPON reboot and a LOGAN'S RUN remake for Warner Bros., so they're quite familiar with his capabilities and clearly like what he's doing.

The timing of this really works in favor of Warners, too, and that has only a little to do with THE AVENGERS banking assloads of money. Warner Bros. is in the middle of a transition period with their superheroes. Yeah, GREEN LANTERN didn't work at all. But MAN OF STEEL is on the way, which gives them a rebooted perspective on Superman that can carry forward into JUSTICE LEAGUE. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES will be the end of Christopher Nolan's vision for Batman, and it's hard to believe they're going to let that DC Comics property sit on the shelf for too long collecting dust when they have the perfect opportunity to restart him for JUSTICE LEAGUE.

This is really the anti-strategy to what Marvel Studios did in creating their movie universe. Marvel used the solo movies to build the characters and propel everything forward towards it all culminating in THE AVENGERS. Warner Bros. may be heading in the opposite direction, using JUSTICE LEAGUE to launch those solo franchises, like Aquaman and Martian Manhunter and definitely The Flash.

It's a risky idea that can work if Beall and whoever gets picked to director can make one hell of a JUSTICE LEAGUE film. After all, Superman and Batman together on the big screen should be enough of a selling point for anyone, regardless of how SUPERMAN RETURNS was or how MAN OF STEEL turns out. It's still Superman or Batman. Marvel's way of doing things isn't the only way, and I'm quite interested to see if Warner Bros. can make working backwards pay off.

When Whedon began on Avengers, he had something to work with already, and the actors had established themselves in the roles -- they knew who they were.
Now, if they could get a good character-writer like Whedon interested, maybe it could work, but I predict this will be a disaster.

If Christian Bale isn't Batman in this world, I will be less excited. Maybe it is because I have been such a fan of the current Batman trilogy, but I find it dissappointing that they would go in another direction for that character at this point.
IMO, the Avengers appeal isn't so much that they did the solo films first, it is that they have had a continuous story line throughout all of the films with the same characters/actors.
I don't know if you can piggy back off of Nolan's Batman films to jump start this project, but if they can at least maintain some consistency with the characters and their actors, I would appreciate that.
Maybe we should just wait and see how Man of Steel is before jumping to any conclusions.

Lex Luthor - regular pissed of genius fighting a popular demi-god using his smarts and balls. Way more awesome than Supes. The Arkham Asylum gang is way more interesting than Batman (something that actually hurt most Batman films.) The Flash has a lot of cool rogues, they have great cosmic baddies, now they even have more interesting Lanterns. This makes it difficult to me to enjoy DC. I always root for the villains.

"JL has a much stronger team both in terms of visual appeal and character depth. "
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *deep breath* BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
The only DC character with any depth at all is BatMan. The rest are so one-dimensional that post-production 3D could not add any depth to them.

It's going to be a hacked-out, half-assed, rushed p.o.s haphzardly thrown together in order to compete with the Avengers franchise. It will be an embarrassment, and a failure, and will shit all over the comics because the bean counters won't understand that the reason why Avengers works and it as good as it is is because of the guy who wrote it and directed it.
Long story short: the only guy who could possibly pull this off is Whedon. Unless Warner is smart (they're not) and start throwing truckloads of cash at him whilst on bended knee and kissing his feet, they may as well forget it.
Also, Superman is already hamstrung by Zack "The Hack" Snyder's involvement. I have zero to no hope for Man Of Steel. Although I'm sure the copious shots of Superman slow-motion punching Zod will be amusing for 30 seconds.

Maybe the last one was a little too kiddie or something? Maybe they want to tie in elements they thought were successful in Avengers? Maybe they want to sculpt it to reintroduce the characters in a way that gels with solo films?

Put what we and every other comic book reader through the ages has read and put that into film. No more movies devoted to origin or reboots or re-imaginings. Just simple, super-heros fighting villains and teaming up to to fight other villains and then the occasional superhero brawl thrown in for good measure.

The Avengers worked because the characters are actually viable, cool characters. The only one that I questioned could actually work was Captain America. That could have come across as really corny. But it worked.
But even just the NAMES of the Justice League members sound like cheese. Wonder Woman. Aquaman. Superman. Cyborg. Marvin the Martian.
Just lame.
And I am a DC fan (Marvel fan as well). I've been reading a bunch of the DC re-boots (NEW 52) and I like most of them. The new Aquaman comic has actually been one of my favorites, but I don't think he translates well to the screen. Maybe I am wrong.
I really, really hope this works. But I doubt it. Someone complained earlier about Black widow and Hawkeye....uh, how is Batman any different. He's just a man as well.
We'll see.

especially if Bale doesn't sign up (he DID say he might be interested in more Batman).
Except for Batman, all of the DC characters don't work because they are too damn omnipotent, and therefore, uninteresting.
And as for the movie Warners better sign up some REAL heavy hitters for this one starting with Nolan, or they'll be shooting themselves in the foot for the umpteenth time.

... DC has, with the exception of Batman & Superman, crap characters.
Marvel's already used all of it's A list characters, X-men, FF, Spidey, Iron Man, Cap, Hulk and there's no real market for the second stringers. A Doc Strange movie might well work but the rest aren't going to generate a big movie audience unless introduced within an A lister premise.
DC doesn't have an A-list stable that can compete. You might just about get three with Wonder Woman added but that's your lot. Green Lantern? Who cares? Flash? Who cares? Aquaman? Who cares?
DC just doesn't cut it.

The Marvel tie-ins worked because everything was tightly coordinated.
The DC movies have been, up until now, little islands. I'd like to think Warners can tighten that up, but history suggests otherwise.
But if they're going to do a similar approach to last time -- different cast from the solo movies, etc. -- then that will signal they're cheaping out again, and we can assume the script and so forth will blow.

JLA was the first superhero team-up...ever. It has the better heroes. Avengers was an also-ran that combined second tier heroes who's solo books were languishing.
And now here we are with excellently fleshed out Avengers heroes who are all now A list heroes coming off grerat solo success and in a fantastic group film.
And JLA is an also-ran populated with heroes who have all had mixed results at the box office. Batman really being the only one that has had break-out success, and that's after the dismal decline of the previous run.
So it's a really weird flip-flop.
A couple of years ago, I had no idea how Thor was going to fit into Stark's world, or how the hell you were going to have a time-traveling human flag work on the big screen. Well now we know, and the whole planet fuckign LOVES it.
Hopefully we'll get a writer and Director of this JLA film that knows what the fuck they are doing and can balance it all to make a film as good as Avengers.
But once again, how do you sit Batman and Superman together at a table in live action and not have it look ridiculous? How does Hawkman figure into this? Are they really going to get a guy that can talk to fish in on this? And casting Wonder Woman is going to be really tough.
Avengers had the advantage of getting all of their histories over and done with in seperate films so they could dispense with most of the exposition and get on with the story. How will a JLA film accomplish this, especially when introducing new characters?
Obviously JLA has MASSIVE potential to be mind-blowing. Unfortunately a few minor misteps could derail the whole thing and make it fucking embarrassing. Let's hope someone can keep it together.

None of their heroes are in the least bit compelling or interesting aside from Batman, and Nolan has basically ruined that for anyone who tries to follow him for at LEAST five-to-ten years.
Another problem with Justice League is that the characters powers and abilities are all grossly out-balanced by Superman, unless they power him way down. On the other end of the spectrum you have Batman, who doesn't fit in at all with the Leaguers in both personality and abilities.
All-in-all, there is nothing about this idea that appeals to me personally. On the other hand, there is no way that this is NOT going to happen after the cash windfall that Avengers just produced. Marvel did it right starting with Iron Man; we'll see how DC fares.

The advantage Marvel has for the second stringers is the success of the avengers. they loosely link them to the cinematic universe have already set up...cgi shots of the helicarrier, that kinda guff. as long as the stories are solid and the movies are well done, it wont harm them at all.
whereas with DC, it's all *from the company that brought you the dark knight, except none of those people are involved and we have a different Batman*

Put Wonder Women and Flash in development. Use Ryan Renolds as green Lantern his movie did not do well but he is established already. You Launch Man of steel. Wonder Women, and Flash come out a year after and Lead it into the JL movie.
Introduce The new batman in JL Movie. Everyone knows his origin story and you really don't need to tell it again.
Drop Aquaman and Manhunter or launch those characters later.
Easy we could have a JLA Movie in 3 to 4 years tops.

I think they need to keep it batman and superman for the first movie then introduce others. If they pile on weak characters its going to poor and you need work developing time to win people over.
I think the flash and the martian would be the better solo films the others wonder woman aquaman and green lantern should be combined into one movie.
They do have a massive collection of quality baddies though.

He was the first great writer who ever encouraged me to believe in myself. Met him several times--he guested on my radio show, and at a symposium I taught at U.C.L.A. Was never anything but a gentleman and an inspiration. The last time I saw him I was asked to give a tribute for (I think) his 85th birthday at Universal Sheraton. I spoke of his kindness in reading two of my stories and responding with encouragement, of sitting at dinner with him and Larry Niven, of him believing that I had my best writing days ahead of me. I cried. He was in his wheelchair, suffering from stroke, and we hugged. He wrote me one last time, thanking me for my tribute, saying: "some of your tears are my own."
What a great man. I loved him.

We open with live news. It's all news broadcasts, live footage, amateur footage sent into the networks, reporters in helicopters surveying the scene, reporters embedded with troops etc. It starts with the Superman vs Doomsday fight. We catch the tail end of the fight, the reaction to the death of Superman and then the live coverage of his funeral and Darkseid's invasion. We see troops attacking the armada, people running for their lives, cities being ruined. Cut to Coast City where a live broadcast shows Green Lantern fighting off Parademons, being quickly overwhelmed. In Central City, the Flash finds himself in similar circumstances. In New York, Wonder Woman fights bravely but even she is beaten back while in Gotham City Batman is completely outmatched and quickly disposed of (don't worry he will kick ass in this concept ). This is our introduction to the heroes. We watch it as the citizens of the various cities would. They work separately and alone. They all fail. But there is nobody to even try to defend Metropolis. It's essentially a montage of news footage, working as a pre-credits sequence. Then we have our opening titles.
After the titles it's 6 months later. Darkseid is in full control of the planet. The worlds heroes have been driven underground and while there are pockets or resistance, it is nowhere near enough to challenge the lord of Apokolips. We don't meet Darkseid yet. The first part of the film shows only his agents, the likes of Desaad and Granny Goodness. It seems that they have found the hidden island of Themyscira and are preparing to attack, ready to destroy the old gods to be replaced by the new (yes, Darkseid refers to himself as a god, as do Orion and others who we meet soon). This is where we get our first big action sequence. We see the attack on Themyscira and the Amazons, led by Hippolyta and Diana, fighting Parademons. We learn that Themyscira is the only existing bridge between the realm of the Olympians and the world of mortals. Darkseid is determined to kill the Olympians. The Amazons fight valiantly but they struggle to hold back the opposing forces. Ares, who imprisoned on Themyscira after the events of my Wonder Woman movie (see previous "If I Was Making..." post ) is unleashed to aid in the defense of the island the other Olympians are forced to join the battle. Once Zeus steps on to the battlefield though, Darkseid makes his presence known and our first look at him comes when we watch him kill Zeus with his bare hands. He doesn't even bother with the other Olympians, leaving his forces to continue the battle as most of the Olympians flee, some die and the Amazons are pushed back to the gates of the underworld only to be attacked from within as we learn that Hades made a deal with Darkseid. A lot of this stuff might be cut. The film would be pretty long as it is but if it stays it would be a pretty epic battle. The battle continues but we cut away.
We find ourselves in Coast City where Hal Jordan is working with a local militia, engaging in hit and run attacks on Darkseid's forces, hoping to disrupt them enough that it will maybe get them to think about leaving while also giving some hope to the people that there are still people fighting for them. In Central City, The Flash is fighting against the odds, trying to drive the Parademons back but he's having no luck whatsoever. It all seems hopeless. In Gotham, Bruce Wayne sits at his computer in the Bat Cave, watching events unfold. He comments that he feel useless. He trained himself to fight criminals and what has happened is way out of his league. One of the screens shows an image of Superman's desecrated tomb. Bruce silently curses Superman for dying and leaving a world that needs him more than ever.
Back in Metropolis, a solitary figure approaches Superman's tomb. He stares down at it and speaks, seemingly to himself, talking about how the Kryptonian's body has a slower rate of decomposition than others and that regeneration is then possible. He then issues a command to "motherbox" and we learn that he wasn't talking to himself and that he is in fact Orion. There is a bright flash of light and as the screen turns white, we hear two voices conversing. One is that of Orion. The other sounds older, wiser. They talk about "his essence" remaining and they argue about interfering in what's happening on Earth. Orion successfully argues that humanity deserves a chance to fight for itself and as the white light fades, we look up at Orion and the person he was talking to - HighFather. Superman is resurrected. But he's weak and doesn't know what's going on. He asks what happened with Doomsday but they don't answer. They lead him outside onto a balcony overlooking a wondrous city, far beyond the technology of Earth or Krypton. It floats high above a paradise planet below. We are of course on New Genesis.
Now it's exposition time. You know, that bit where you have to find out everything you need to know about the plot even though it risks boring the audience or messing with the pacing. In this case it's made all the trickier because this is essentially the part where I have to explain the New Gods, how the superheroes can exist in the same universe and what Darkseid's ultimate goals are. It's long been argued that a New Gods story would need a trilogy on its own to be effective and here I am trying to do it all in 20 minutes...eek. So nothing I write is going to live up to that. So I'm trying to simplify it and tweak it in a way that works for the story without utterly destroying the version from the comics. Tough job. So here it is:
Essentially it's the god wave. A force of energy spread across the rapidly expanding universe at the Big Bang that allowed some forms of life to be elevated above others. It is how the Olympians and the New Gods came into being but more than that it allowed beings across the universe to elevate themselves, not as gods but still gifted. It's this energy that allowed Kryptonians to evolve in such a way to give Superman his powers, that allowed the Oans to excel as scientists and discover a way to protect a fragile universe, creating the Green Lanterns. This energy created the conditions for Barry Allen to get caught in a lab accident that gave him incredible speed. On New Genesis, the New God's speculated that the energy may be divine in nature or at least beyond their comprehension and thus had a purpose. But the universe remained random. Darkseid could not accept the contradiction of free will and randomness in a universe with a divine spark. He began to view the universe as corrupt, free will as a disease and thus, the "Source" of the god wave as being imperfect and corrupt itself, a life equation without a suitable solution. And so Darkseid resolved to challenge the Source, to correct the chaos of the universe. Life itself was contrary to the order he sought. So he would search the stars for his solution. An Anti-Life equation. Believing that free will held the key, he would bend the universe and every being within to his will. There would be no freedom, no thoughts but his own. And he would challenge the Source. Highfather of course told him it was impossible, that he couldn't remake the universe, he couldn't bend it to his will. This put them on opposing sides and Darkseid and his followers were exiled to a sister planet, one he called Apokolips. Darkseid and Highfather would engage in eternal war, a manifestation of good versus evil, freedom versus domination, chaos vs order.
Before I go any further, that last paragraph took an hour to write and still makes no sense. No idea how I'd get all that into a script yet, but there it is.
Anyways, they waged war across eons even as life flourished in the ever-expanding universe around them. The Green Lanterns came to be defenders of justice in a chaotic universe but even the Guardians were unaware of the New Gods and their conflict. It existed only as rumor, affecting the universe in profound ways that nobody could comprehend. Eventually, as the old gods on Earth faded into obscurity with the rise of an era of enlightenment and self-determination, as Krypton moved from old superstitions to new science, Darkseid determined that his war with Highfather was contrary to his goals. A truce was declared. With many losses on both sides, Highfather agreed to the truce to prevent more bloodshed to the people he protected. They exchanged sons. Orion, son of Darkseid and Scott Free, son of Highfather would be raised by their fathers enemies and neither god would attack the other, ending the war. And so as New Genesis retreated into the background, Darkseid could focus his attention on breaking the will of the universe itself and set out his mission of conquest and domination.
So that's the backstory...yeah...maybe it does need 2 or 3 films...but in any case, we learn that Orion acted against Highfather's orders in bringing Superman to New Genesis, warning that Darkseid could use it as an excuse to break the truce. Orion comments that he didn't attack anyone from Apokolips and that if Darkseid can be allowed to conquer, surely New Genesis should at least give the worlds he invades the opportunity to fight for their freedom. As Superman regains his powers (and is given a new suit since the one he fought Doomsday in was torn to shreds, this new one is black with a silver S...don't worry, it doesn't last long), Highfather tells Orion to return him to Earth. But Orion has an ulterior motive for bringing Superman to New Genesis. As part of the truce, nobody from New Genesis is allowed to step foot on Darkseid's world of Apokolips. We learn that Highfather's son, Scott Free has been imprisoned on Apokolips all his life, being tortured by Granny Goodness and trained to be an acolyte in Darkseid's army. But Scott's will has always proven strong enough to resist Goodness and Darkseid's attempts to break him. With Darkseid's forces on Earth, Scott has the chance to break out of his prison but needs help. That's where Superman comes in. Orion tells him that while he needs him to free Scott, Superman also has to see Apokolips for himself and see just what will happen to Earth if Darkseid isn't stopped and see what he will be up against. Again, this part could be cut out but I'll leave it in for now.
Superman travels to Apokalips to free Scott, learning that one of Granny Goodness' Female Furies fell in love with Scott and is helping to free him. During this sequence, we see the horror of Apokolips, encounter Big Barda and meet Mr. Miracle himself, who has already escaped the prison by the time Superman and Barda arrive but is now facing the imposing threat of Kalibak. Superman of course kicks his ass. Barda and Scott open a Boom Tube back to New Genesis and before they leave, they tell Superman that he can't defeat Darkseid alone. They also tell him that Superman's only hope is to get Darkseid himself to engage in battle. If Superman can show that Darkseid isn't all powerful, that he can be defeated, maybe his forces will begin to doubt him.
Of course this is a Justice League story, not a Superman story, so what about everyone else? Well, while all the New God stuff is going on we have a couple of other stories going on at the same time. Of course we have Wonder Woman on Themyscira trying desperately to fight off Hades' undead army and Darkseid's forces. We also see Hal Jordan pleading with the Guardians to send reinforcements to free Earth but the Guardians have problems of their own (Manhunter war in the Green Lantern series I wrote about a while back) and can't risk getting into a war with Darkseid. Hal is on his own. Sam Lane is trying to hold a small resistance force together with the help of Steve Trevor, Bruce Wayne is studying the Parademons, the technology, everything he can, trying to find a weakness as Gotham falls into chaos. Aquaman is in Atlantis, arguing with the ruling council about coming to the aid of the surface-dwellers but the Atlanteans fear that if Darkseid discovers their existence they will be doomed.
The epicenter of the invasion though is Metropolis. That's where Darkseid is. Nations that haven't surrendered have been destroyed. He is in command. The people remain in their homes, afraid to go outside but strangely, Darkseid isn't sending his parademons to kill everyone. He wants to break the people, not destroy them. Any hope they cling to must be extinguished and as Darkseid studies the human race, he realises that as he tortures and torments people, they all cling to a small hope of salvation. He finds humanity's will to resist, even if it's in a small part of a fragile mind, interesting. He wonders if humanity may hold the key to destroying free will, to finding his Anti-Life solution. So he decides to see how far the human spirit can go before it shatters. Rather than targeting the masses, he targets their food, poisons their water, starts to burn forests. Voices of dissent are rounded up along with world leaders and anyone who could give humanity a future. From religious leaders to the worlds greatest minds (including Lex Luthor), he sends his Parademons to bring them all to Metropolis. He will use Earth's own communications systems to broadcast a mass execution of these people, attempting to destroy any hope of recovery for the human race. He plots with Desaad and Granny Goodness to spread infertility among the population and of course other nefarious things that I haven't thought of yet. Ha.
In Smallville, a Boom Tube opens. Superman steps through, returning to the home he grew up in. His parents of course are shocked but overcome with joy to see him. The Kent Farm isn't what it was. Corn crops have withered and died. The animals are dead or diseased. As Jonathan and Martha tell their son what's been happening in the world, Superman knows it's time to act. But he can't do it by himself. He needs help and he knows where to get it. Before he leaves though, he goes to his old room and takes out a new red and blue suit from under his bed, replacing the black one he was given on New Genesis.
In Gotham City, Clark Kent knocks on a wooden door. He wears his familiar glasses, suit and trench coat and has a note pad and pen in his hands. An old man opens the door - Alfred. Clark asks to see Bruce Wayne but Alfred informed him that the billionaire is unavailable. Clark turns to leave but stops and turns back around, preventing Alfred from closing the door. Clark then asks to see Batman. A voice behind Alfred says to let Clark in. Bruce and Clark stand face to face. Bruce comments that Clark was supposed to be dead. Clark responds that he was and then Bruce pulls a little lead box from his pocket and opens it. Oh yes. Kryptonite. Clark staggers back in pain, falling to his knees. Bruce reaches down and pulls Clark's glasses off. He grins and closes the lead box. He had to be sure.
We cut to the Batcave underneath Wayne Manor where we learn that the Parademons have released all the inmates from Arkham and with no police or national guard around, they have basically taken over the city. It's too much for Batman. He has no powers, his "toys" are no match for hardened alien soldiers with no will of their own. For the first time, Batman feels lost and useless. It is a war that's just too big for him (again, don't worry Bat-fans...). The world needs Superman. But Clark shakes his head. He can't do it alone. There are other heroes on the planet, those who inspire humanity. Clark knows that it's not enough to attack Darkseid. To defeat him, the world has to be given hope, they have to be inspired. But the heroes have gone underground and Clark needs Bruce's help to find them. Bruce...being Bruce, already knows where a few of them are. He knows that the Flash is Wally West (read my Flash movie idea to find out why it's Wally, not Barry), he knows that Hal Jordan is Green Lantern. He mentions Aquaman but has determined that the apparent sea-hero doesn't exist and he has no way of finding Wonder Woman. And then we hear a voice behind them. Without hesitation, Batman throws a Batarang. It flies at the mysterious presence and passes straight through him. He introduces himself as no other than J'onn J'onzz - The Martian Manhunter. We do get a little bit of his backstory but a Martian Manhunter movie (or TV Series) would happen after Justice League so this is essentially his introduction to the DC movieverse that I have in my head - the one that will never see the light of day.
J'onn tells the heroes that he can find Wonder Woman, that she exists in a place between dimensions (or something along those lines). So finally, after 90 minutes to 2 hours, it's time to bring them all together. First, Clark travels to Coast City to find Green Lantern and bring him back to Gotham while Bruce goes to Central City to get The Flash. Then J'onn goes to Themyscira to get Wonder Woman, helping her and the Amazons to close the gates of the Underworld and fight back against Darkseid's forces. With the battle won, Diana is reluctant to leave Themyscira but Hippolyta tells her to go, saying that the Amazons will be ready to fight when the time comes. Before they leave, J'onn looks out at the water and closes his eyes. He's basically sending a psychic message to Aquaman, but we find that out later on.
6 of the 7 meet up in Gotham at Wayne Manor, all of them in their everyday clothes to avoid suspicion. Darkseid's planned execution of the "worlds hopes" is going to take place the next day. It will be broadcast all over the world and Bruce suggests that they can use the broadcast to rally any surviving resistance into coming out to fight. Wally asks what they could possibly do to give the world hope and restore its fighting spirit and Diana points out that one of them was dead, yet here he stands. Perhaps the greatest of them all (Bruce of course rolls his eyes at that one). If the world sees Superman, they will stand up. But even so their only hope is to take down Darkseid himself. Metropolis is going to be centre stage in the battle.
Clark returns to a devastated Metropolis, to the Daily Planet which has been taken over by Glorious Godfrey and forced to print propaganda pieces but he also ensures that the true horror of the worlds plights is known. When Clark walks in the door, it is of course a shock to everyone. He has been missing since Superman died (for obvious reasons). When Lois sees him, she slaps him then hugs him. When she asks where he's been, he says it's tough to explain. He brings her up to the roof of the Daily Planet so that they can talk. It's the morning of the planned execution. She asks him again where he's been and Clark starts to ramble about life and death, about keeping secrets. I have this entire conversation in my head but I'm not going to write it out here. Eventually, Clark realises he can't say the words, that they seem unreal, even to him. It's better if he shows her. He removes his glasses. At first Lois doesn't realise what's happening. She looks at him and sees Clark, but as he looks back at her it begins to dawn on her. She shakes her head, not believing it and then Clark opens his jacket and shirt, revealing the S shield. Then he flies out of his clothes. Again I know how I'd do this but it's hard to explain. He essentially takes off, just a few feet and his clothes fall away, revealing the Superman costume. Lois falls to her knees, sobbing, her mind still trying to comprehend it all. She screams at him, demanding to know where he's been, why he didn't save the world. He tells her he really was dead but that he's back. There's so much he wants to tell her, something he wants to ask her, but there's no time and Lois won't let him anyway. She tells him "when it's over," wanting something to cling on to, something to hope for. Superman tells her that she needs to find her father. His resistance forces need to be ready to move. Lois asks how her father will know when to launch an offensive. Superman gives her a reassuring smile and says he'll just know. Before he leaves, he looks down at his clothes, crumpled up with his glasses on the roof. He picks up his glasses and gives them to Lois, asking her to hold on to them for him. Then he leaves. While all this is going on, we intercut with Desaad preparing the worlds hopes for execution as Godfrey commands the world wide broadcast to begin. Darkseid watches the events on his flagship high above the city.
The Metropolis police force are drafted in to carry out the execution. Of course none of them want to do it but they're being forced as Parademons stand over their families. Someone is going to be executed and its their choice who it is. The world watches as reluctantly, the police open fire on the group of political and religious leaders, poets, scientists, philanthropists etc. The bullets fly through the air...and then nothing. Everyone is still standing. Enraged, Desaad orders them to fire again. A gust of wind blows the police back on to the ground. At first there is confusion. Then someone sees it...and they say those words as the cameras broadcasting the event begin to point upwards - Look! Up in the sky!
Superman hovers. His long red cape flutters like a flag caught in the wind. High above on his flagship, Darkseid barely manages a smile. Surgical strikes of heat vision free the captives from their bonds. Among them, Lex Luthor grins, commenting that he never thought he'd be happy to see the Man of Steel but he'd make an exception just this once. The Parademons holding the families of the police officers hostage find themselves being thrown through the air as a burst of green energy collides with them. And so the battle begins.
This battle is epic. To describe it all would be insane. You've got parademons, the female furies, Darkseid's elite forces, our heroes, Sam Lane's resistance movement. Metropolis is a war zone. With the battle well underway, Superman goes straight for Darkseid. They have a quick conversation but Darkseid doesn't engage him. He is aware of Superman's time on Apokolips and expected his arrival but Superman is still "just a man" while Darkseid calls himself a god. He leaves his forces to deal with Superman and watches, amused at the carnage far below. But there is of course one important question - where's Aquaman?
Well I'm glad you asked...even though you didn't...Aquaman and his forces come from the sea (of course), bringing a force of Amazons with them. Throughout the story, there is a sense from other heroes and even Batman himself, that the Caped Crusader just isn't up for this battle. Of course he proves himself and everyone else wrong, kicking ass, taking on the Female Furies. J'onn J'onnz is co-ordinating the heroes efforts and doing a hell of a lot of fighting himself. Even Lex Luthor gets in on the action. The battle rages but try as he might, Superman just can't get close enough to Darkseid to take him on. He gets help from Wonder Woman as they slowly work their way to the lord of Apokolips.
We learn that people all over the planet are rising up to fight against their oppressors. Even the criminals in Gotham are fighting. But as well as Earth's forces are doing, there's just too many Parademons, too many war ships to take down. Finally, Wonder Woman and Superman punch and blast their way to Darkseid. He blasts Wonder Woman with his Omega Beam. She blocks it but falls from his ship, crashing into the ground far below. Superman uses the brief distraction to punch Darkseid square in the face. Darkseid responds violently, throwing a devastating punch that sends Superman flying crashing down, landing next to Wonder Woman. It takes a moment for Darkseid to realise that his followers are looking at him, surprised. Then he notices. Blood. His blood. It's just a trickle, coming from his face, but it's enough. He sees the doubt in his followers eyes. Angered, he blasts one of them with his Omega Beam, disintegrating him.
Enraged, Darkseid steps off his ship, falling down to the ground, landing on his feet as if he'd just stepped off a curb. He goes straight for Superman, not seeing a giant green fist swinging for him. Darkseid crashes into a building. All seven heroes stand together, each of them landing a blow on Darkseid. The forces nearest to them attack. The seven drive them back. As Darkseid recovers, Batman talks to his forces, urging them to look at their god. See that he can be hurt. Even a god can bleed. As Batman fuels the doubt in Darkseid's forces, a boom tube opens and Orion steps through. He taunts Darkseid, stating that he isn't capable of fighting his own battles. Darkseid is pissed at this point. He wants to crush them all, to show them how powerful he really is. But Orion suggests something else. This is something that Orion and Superman worked out on New Genesis. There is no way that the seven heroes could defeat all of Darkseid's forces. But if they could get Darkseid to fight, to put the fate of the planet on the line, they may have a chance. Darkseid agrees to the idea with a smile. In fact he laughs. He will fight Superman and destroy him as the world watches. Their saviour, back from the dead will be returned to his grave, the worlds greatest hope destroyed once and for all, breaking the human spirit completely.
So the stage is set. Darkseid vs Superman. What about the other heroes? Darkseid tells his best warriors to destroy them. We do of course follow that battle but the main focus is on Superman vs Darkseid. It's immense. Superman is pushed to his limit and beyond, Darkseid is pushed to his. They fight across Metropolis as the world watches. But Superman can't seem to break Darkseid down and every blow coming from the New God is devastating. It's the Doomsday fight all over again. The world is going to watch as their hero is killed once more, this time forever. The other heroes, caught up in their own battles are unable to help him. As Superman lies on the ground, Darkseid kneeling over him, punching his face again and again, Superman's eyes catch the light of the sun. With a final feat of strength, Superman pushes Darkseid off and opens a Boom Tube, disappearing through it. Darkseid can't help but laugh. The worlds greatest hero has fled. The Earth is his. the rest of the heroes, shocked at Superman's apparent cowardice, find themselves facing overwhelming odds, each of them being defeated. They're forced to their knees. Darkseid is going to execute them personally.
But we're not done yet. In the heart of the solar system, close to the burning fires of Earth's sun, a Boom Tube opens. Superman appears. His body is filled with solar energy, more than he has ever had. Perhaps too much. But he's going to burn off that extra energy pretty quickly. As his suit starts to burn away, Superman takes off across the solar system, flying at speed, getting closer and closer to the speed of light. As Darkseid's eyes glow, ready to deliver an Omega blast to Batman, something hits him, almost like a bolt of lightning. Superman hovers in front of Batman for a moment, then charges at Darkseid. He punches him again and again, each blow drawing blood. Punch after punch connects with a final blow knocking Darkseid clean across the street, crashing through a building. Then, heat vision. The full power of the sun targeted at Darkseid. The New God struggles to stand against it. His whole body seems to catch fire as he screams in agony and rage. When Superman stops, Darkseid unleashes the full force of his Omega Beam. Superman dodges but the beam follows. He flies between buildings, the beam follows. He goes high and low, the beam follows. Twisting. Turning. And then stops for an instant. Right in front of Darkseid who doesn't have a chance to react as Superman disappears and Darkseid takes the full force of his own blast. He falls to his knees. Utterly defeated. But in spite of his fall, his forces rush to his aid, still devoted followers.
As several Boom Tubes open, Darkseid's forces retreat back to Apokolips, taking their master with them. The deal was made and Darkseid will honour it...for now. As the heroes look upon a ruined Metropolis, Lex Luthor promises to rebuild it, make it bigger and better than before (set up for another Superman movie of course ). The heroes realise that they can't let something like this happen again, that there are always going to be some threats that nobody can handle alone. So in times of crisis they'll come together to fight as one, find other heroes to fight alongside them for truth and justice - A Justice League.
A few days later, on the roof of the Daily Planet, Lois and Superman stand watching the city begin the process of recovery. They share a moment, Superman asks Lois to marry him, Lois reminds him that she still hasn't met his mother...but of course she says yes. She reaches into her purse and takes out his glasses but Superman asks her to hold onto them for just a little longer. There's something he needs to do.
In Gotham City, the inmates from Arkham have run amok. They're running the city. The sun is setting as Jim Gordon stands atop police headquarters. He turns on the Bat signal. On the street below, many of the criminals stand facing the lone figure of Batman. They tell him that Gotham is their city now and that even he can't stand alone against them. Batman gives a slight grin and asks what made them think he was alone...the criminals take a step back as Superman, Aquaman, Green Lanterm, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Wonder Woman appear, standing beside Batman. They are the Justice League. Cut to Black - End Credits.

far cheesier than Marvels catalogue. Sorry but they do, Bat and supes aside. The Avengers was a culmination of five years of groundwork, goodwill and genuine star power in Downey Jr, Jackson et al. <p>
DC have a hell of a hill to climb and hiring a guy whose dealings with the studio involve just rehashing 30 year old properties doesnt exactly inspire confidence or the perception generally will be ultimately the truth - Avengers is making bank and DC want to jump aboard the train

Don't waste your fucking money as this has FLOP written all over it! Build Superman like you did Batman then do a Batman & Superman movie. No one likes or cares about Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, or The Flash. The Avengers movie has one weak character, Thor, but the JLA movie would have 5!!!!

The key difference between DC and Marvel in terms of the live action movies is that Marvel has been very successful at translating them to the big screen, and DC has been less-than-successful. That's it.

Disagree 100%. DC's heroes are far better than Marvel's (only my opinion, of course). Batman has been my fav since I could barely walk, but the other heroes are no slackers.
Supes
Wonder Woman
Green Arrow
Aquaman
Flash
All better than most of Marvel's heroes.
And the villains? C'mon, now. One of my best buds is a fill-on Marvel Universe FANATIC. And even *he* says DC's villains are vastly superior.
But, not trying to change your mind. Just saying, DC isn't "uncool". Now they're plan for a DCU movie franchise sucks. No matter how they handle it, it's always going to look like they're trying to "copy" Marvel in the mainstream movie-goers' eyes. This will be interesting...
(And it *has* to be better than the shitty JLA film they were originally planning a couple years ago. That whole project had "this is going to suck hard" written all over it.)

Isn't there still tons that can be done with Batman?
I am so over this whole third and final bullshit.
Get a new director if you have to, even a new actor to play Batman. But if this established universe and take on the character is working, why stop at three films?

I mean I like Jay Baruchel and all, but the villain for a MASSIVE studio tentpole superhero movie? and I've literally never even heard of DJ Contraro or whatever, to play that small role of, oh yea, umm Superman

Think about it: Supes is the leader of the JLA. If the Man of Steel film tanks (and I am really rooting for it to do well!), then you have no JLA film. If the main guy doesn't work, then who's gonna go see JLA? Nobody.
So, MoS absolutely *HAS TO* work for WB or they've got nothing.

I mean yeah you could just throw out a Justice League movie and say look its the Justice League. Because most of us do already know who they are, so there's not really a need for the origin build.
But what made the Avengers so great was the build to it. Yes people (even though I disagree) didn't like Iron Man 2 as much because they felt like it was just filler. But didn't you love the build with Thor that culminated to a fever pitch at the end of Captain America. You just were salivating for The Avengers at that point.
So yes DC can just throw out the heroes, but I don't trust their track record when it comes to Live Action. Outside of the Nolan's Batmans they've been having their asses handed to them. And clearly Nolan's vision of Bats wouldn't fit in a Justice League. So you have to question is that what he'll do to Supes.

Think about it...it would be a totally different approach and the marketing alone might make the buildup to a JL movie standout from what the Avengers did.
You could run 2 or 3 of the unknown characters in a miniseries to set them up for the movie. You might not have to spend as much money or time as multiple movies and still accomplish getting the general public ready and excited for a JL movie.

At least to begin with. If you want to have Superman and Batman in those movies in a lesser capacity, so be it. Make them the two already established heroes. Make Flash, GL, Manhunter, Wonder Woman and Aquaman as the newest heroes. Not only did they just get their powers recently but they just decided to become heroes and burst into the public eye. then they have to team up.

...and interesting, are their flaws individually
and collectively, as well as their disparate
world views. There's an ideology for every
audience member to get behind or connect with.
With the exception of Batman, who offers
that level of connective tissue to a mass
audience on the JLA?
I wish them luck.

Henry Cavill will obviously be Supes for continuity in their film universe though I still prefer Brandon Routh. He reminded me of Reeve's and that's a good thing.
Love the idea of Armie Hammer as a younger Batman because Bale's not getting any younger. And I have a feeling Nolan is gonna surprise us and kill of Bruce Wayne. That way no one continues his universe.
Ryan Reynolds was great in Lantern. Don't know what the die hard fans were looking for. It was entertaining just not great.
Gina Carano as Wonder Woman. If your wondering why (see what I did there) just watch Haywire.
Vincent Chase as Aquaman. Because that small clip of him running to the ocean on Entourage made me believe that there could be an Aquaman.
You don't really need to add side players like Avengers did. Focus on these 5 and you have a solid movie.

why would you not do a "Superman/Batman" movie first?!? Ok, so, the Avengers made a lot of money...still is. But, how many heroes did it take to make that money? I mean, not everyone in the world even knew who all of them were.
Let's get real.....even "non-comicbooknerds" know who Superman and Batman are and EVERYONE would love to see them in a well-written movie together first. EVERYONE. Again, if it's well written without the idiot WB execs interference.
This is DC's and WB's advantage because Marvel doesn't really have TWO ICONIC characters they could have put together to make big bucks like DC does in Superman and Batman.
For christ's sake; follow Bruce Timm's animated formula (batman, then superman, then they team up, then a justic league series). it's kinda why he's considered the 'king' of hero animation people.
Give us Superman/Batman movie FIRST! then, once you see that's succesful, do a justice league movie.

...that The Avengers was a success because Marvel laid the groundwork in the four preceding movies. The characters and their conflicts had already been established, and the movies had served to ramp up expectations for the team-up. A JL movie on its own won't have that weight of expectation behind it; okay, Superman and Batman are well-established characters, but the others?
They need to kick off with a Superman film that isn't being rushed into production in order to meet a legal deadline, and conclude with an after-credits stinger showing the Gotham Gazette headline: MAN OR BAT? Do an all-new Batman film with a more fantasical enemy than they're allowed in the Nolan films - Mr Freeze or something - and then do a Green Lantern film.
Oh, and get Gina Carano to play Wonder Woman in a Whedon-scripted film. Then you've earned the right to do a JL film that brings together the existing characters and introduces a couple of other heroes that are too awkward to merit their own films (like the Hulk in Avengers).
DC/Warners is being too reactive to The Avengers, in all the wrong ways.

But it IS the BEST way...And I'm talkin' about a baaaad muthafu.... <p>
"Shut yo mouf!"... <p>
What, baby? I'm just talkin bout Samuel L Jackson! <p>
Nick Fury served as a powerful link between Marvel's stand alones. A genius move by Marvel that DC can only rip off at this point. S.H.E.I.L.D. in general...sitting in the background...monitoring the origins of these superhero's origins from afar...allowed there to be a seamless thread already in place that allowed The Avengers film to make ass loads of $$$...besides being a great film all on it's own. <p>
At this point...DC's only move...to get our geekgasm on...blow our socks off....make us shit our pants and fall back into it....etc...Is to have The Dark Knight Rises end...with Bane holding The Bat over his head...about to deliver the famed spinal crushing blow to Bruce Wayne...When...out of nowhere...our boy in blue (Henry Cavill) crashes through a fucking wall and rockets into Bane's torso knocking HIM thru a fucking wall. <p>
Then Supes walks over...picks him up...Bane tries to say something indignant...but before he can finish...Superman pulls a HULK/Loki moment and pounds him into the fucking earth. <p>
He helps the fallen Batman to his feet. Both look over at Catwoman...who looks likes she just shit her catsuit. <p>
"Who's your girlfriend?" Supes says. <p>
Roll credits. <p>
Then get out yer fucking checkbook, DC...and pay Bale whatever the fuck he wants for 3 Justice League movies. <p>
The segue...is the BEST way. <p>
Hell...even Tobey McGuire's Spider-Man had a mention of Superman in it!!! The DC film universe has been operating in a vacuum for too long...never wanting to cross the streams in their little superhero library. <p>
That has been their undoing in getting a JLA movie made all these years. <p>
Nick Fury's cameo appearances allowed The Avengers to hit the ground running... instead of having to establish that all these DC characters exist in ONE movie. It's too ambitious...and will likely be a train wreck. <p>
Now...I'm not a fool. I know Chris Nolan doesn't plan on having Supes fly in at the last second and undermine all the work his crusader has been building towards over 3 movies...Hell...Bane may even end up delivering that back breaker at the end of the film. Who knows? But it's gonna be dark as shit whatever happens. <p>
But... I at least hope, somewhere in TDKR, Bruce Wayne is watching the news at some point...and the Mayor of Metropolis is shown putting a medal around Henry Cavill's neck for saving the day...and Bale throws back a shot of bourbon...and says... <p>
"Man...that suit is fucking horrible. Where's my medal?"

Good movies are not made by accident or by bean-counters. They are made by people that care about the story/characters/source material, have a strategy with the marketing, and have talent!
Green Lantern failed because the director didn't care, the writers sucked, and the marketing was dismal. GL should have been the easiest movie in the world to market: but they failed at it!
Also, making the big team-up movie first and then splitting into the solo projects is stupid. Marvel did it right. WB will fuck it up. And that sucks.
Here is how it SHOULD be done:
Movie 1: Green Lantern Corps. Fix up first GL movie and drop hints of Darkseid. Also, do it on the cheap.
Movie 2: Superman/Batman team-up. More intimate story, but drop more hints of Darkseid.
Movie 3: Flash. Reverse Flash uses tech from Apokolips.
Movie 4: Superman/Batman team-up part 2: This time with Martian Manhunter! More Darkseid hints.
Movie 5: Wonder Woman with a small part for Aquaman.
Movie 6: The Justice League consists of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, GL, Aquaman, MM. Big Bad: Darkseid.
WB then makes billions of dollars and fanboys and girls are happy. The end.

This is only being done because Marvel has kicked their ass at every move. The only tentpole DC has provided for their parent company is Batman. Watchmen and V For Vendetta were successful, but neither are part of the proper DCU. I think that the Man Of Steel looks awful so far, and I'm not interested in seeing it. What I would like to see is a Kamandi movie. Or some of DC's other oddball properties. Maybe Warlord, or the Demon?

Why does every hero have to be on land in one of a few fictitious cities? I love that there are Earth heroes, alien heroes, and even ocean-based heroes. There's a whole world down there to explore. Why does everything have to be exactly the same? Doing a story in the ocean with Black Manta would be sweet.

I disagree. He could be used like the Hulk was used in Avengers.
I'm trying to understand all the DC bashing. I guess everybody's a "Marvel guy" right now because that's the cool thing to be at the moment.
I've always been more of a DC guy, but I don't understand the fighting between Marvel fans and DC fans. It's stupid. I like both worlds a hell of a lot and am glad the Marvel film universe is kicking ass! But I still lean more toward DC when push comes to shove.
But, my point is: Both comic companies are pretty cool. Both have good and bad to their characters and the way they handle them. What's up with the constant fighting about which one is "better", or who's characters are more "gay" than the others?
Pointless.

I bet Justice League will do just as well!"
Moviegoing public: LOL
Superman and Batman are the only viable DC properties. The rest are just too hollow and impersonal for the casual moviegoing public. For people who aren't comic readers, but picked up a few as a kid, or just generally knows of the characters from cultural exposure, most DC and Marvel properties simply won't connect with them. To avoid exclusively shitting on DC fans, I'll address the Marvel side of things. I recently took a non-geek girl to the Avengers. She was not a comic person, but she knew who the Hulk was, and what he was about. He's an easy character to connect with...guy turns into a monster when he rages out, tries to control his powers for good. She knew who Iron Man was, rich guy who uses technology to help the world. She kind of knew who Thor was, but again he's easy enough to connect with, a God watching over his flock. But she knew nothing about Captain America, he was just a suit to her. And to me, I had to admit I know nothing at all about the character aside for his origin. I don't know *who he is* or *what he's about*. He's a very bland, cookie cutter superhero.
It's the same deal with most DC properties to casual audiences. Batman and Superman are very audience-friendly characters. You can sum each one up easily, you can tell someone everything they need to know about the characters in a sentence or two. The same cannot be said for most of the other DC properties. I'd read my share of The Flash comics as a kid, as much as Batman and Superman, but if you asked me to sum up the Flash, I'd say 'he's cocky and he runs fast'. Sort of pales in comparison to 'he's a dark brooding billionaire playboy who, after witnessing the murder of his parents, used his riches to become a crimefighter and vigilant defender of Gotham City.'
All non-Superman/Batman DC films will fail for this very reason, because they're strangers to the casual viewer.

WB clearly has no idea what to do with their superheroes. Let's face it, if it wasn't for Richard Donner, Tim Burton, and Christopher Nolan all their movies would suck.
So I can't get excited about this until I see a good trailer.
As for a villain, if it's not the Injustice Gang, Despero, or Starro (as a cool alien invasion, like Grant Morrison did), then forget it! I don't want to see Maxwell Lord as the villain in a JLA movie- seriously! Save Darkseid and the Crime Syndicate for the second or third movie.
The Hyperclan would be good too- could be a good intro to Mars and the Manhunter- but with the flop of Mars needs Moms and John Carter, I'm sure J'onn J'ozz wouldn't make it on the team- Hollywood logic.

The Avengers took so much money largely because you had about 5 years worth of films running up to it, each of which were effectively 2-hour commercials for The Avengers. To try to do Justice League without doing a rebooted Batman first and only the new Superman out there wouldn't work as well.
It would probably be best to have the new Superman then Batman then Wonderwoman (since these are the characters people know). Then do the Justice League film and launch solo films of the lesser-known characters after that. Maybe the smaller characters could make cameos in the previous films just to set the up (e.g. The Flash appearing in the Wonder Woman film).
It seems odd that Marvel got there first with the team-up movie since Warner Bros own the rights to the DC characters, but Marvel had for so long been tied up with rights issues between different companies.

If you dig the (much cooler) villains, check out my action/comedy superhero script The Guardians, which is in development at Legacy Filmworks (you can check the script out on their site). In The Guardians, a group of villains (led by the Lex luther-like Gabe Grant) must team up to stop a Justice League-like superteam from secretly taking over the world.
As far as the JLA film, I say have them face a Lex and Joker led LOD before a third act throw down with Darkside. Throw the kitchen sink at em. Oh, and keep that Henry whateverhislastnameis as Superman. Kid really looks the part.

AVENGERS had five prequels to build up the characters. The audience already had a built-in fondness for (at least some of) the heroes. There is absolutely no continuity whatsoever between Warners' characters. This is just a desperate attempt to get some of the Marvel money. I'm not even a big comic book guy, but I can smell greed a mile away.

Just start of with Verbinski's Batman vs. Superman script and have them decide to form the JLA at the end.
Use the next couple of years to establish Hawkmay, Flash, Wonder Woman and another GL film.
Bring them all together in a JLA movie.
Hot 'shit, that's the way to go!

Warner's should do World's Finest (or Superman / Batman, if you like) flick first, as that would be massive in it's own right and those franchises have been tested already. However, if the new Snyder Superman movie bombs, you can forget about Justice League for awhile longer. Hell, there is no guarantee that Dark Knight will be a home run, especially at the supposed three hour run time. Also, I would expect that Justice League will exist as it's own "universe" outside of the other DC properties, as was the case previously. As I understood the Justice League project, it was intended as a family entertainment, and George Miller had certainly proven himself in that regard. Hopefully he can come back, after the new Mad Max, of course.

No one cares about any of their characters except Batman. None of the "cool" nerds ever followed DC other than Batman stuff. Even the "obscure" Marvel stuff has had more of a following than DC mainstream going on about 30 years now. The only time Superman has been relevant post-Chris Reeve was when the comic character "died" back in the mid-90's.

Replace Cap with Batman
Iron Man with Superman
Thor with Captain Marvel
Loki with Black Adam
Hawkeye with Green Arrow
Black Widow with Black Canary
Hulk with.. I don't know, who is a big dumb stong DC character?
Replay the movie in your head with this cast. Hmm.. not bad, not bad.

And YES, I think they should stick with Ryan Reynolds as Hal. Green Lantern may have been a bit of a disappointment but it didn't absolutely bomb, it make it's money back and everyone has watched on HBO a bunch of times by now. There's no way they're going to get Christian Bale back as Batman so they should just cast another name to replace him and establish that this new guy is more or less the same Batman from the Nolan films ala Roger Moore or even Val Kilmer in Batman Forever unless they've got a hell of an awesome Batman reboot planned it doesn't make since to relaunch that whole franchise in a rushed way like they're doing with Spiderman if all they really need is a Batman to be in a few JL movies. It really sucks that Nolan and Bale sour-pussed themselves into a corner in the name of "realism". The rest of the League other than Cavill (and possible Reynolds like I said earlier) should be cast with names instead of unknowns and the script is gonna have to be damned good. Again I partially blame Nolan for not seeing the writing on the wall and insisting on keeping his precious, growly voiced tank driving Batman in a seperate universe but mostly I blame the nincompoop executives at Warner Bros. who've owned all these characters for close to 40 years and still couldn't get their act together. The fact that they were going to green light that awful George Miller JL movie with a different Superman and Batman than their established franchise actors was the stupidest fucking thing ever. Now between their cluelessness and Nolan's pretentiousness 4 years after Dark Knight and Iron Man came out in the same summer Marvel has made another Iron Man movie, Rebooted Hulk, launched Thor and Cap and most importantly delivered on the promise of a multi-franchise Superhero Team up movie audiences never dreamed possible and all Warners has done is make a mediocre Green Lantern movie, a Superman film that looks awesome in the still images we've seen but won't be out for another year and yet another depressing, nihilistic, shoe gazing Batman film.

to build the movie franchises this way. DC's characters have much more common recognition than the Avengers group - in fact, I'd say the Justice League has a fair amount of common recognition already; prior to the movie, I don't think the same could have been said about the Avengers.
EVERYONE knows the core Justice League characters - Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. These characters don't need their own movies to introduce them to the audience, whereas lesser know principles like Iron Man and Thor did.
Earlier in the thread, neonfrisbee made a great point: "the "average joe" can't tell the difference between Marvel and DC characters. They're all one thing to the "average joe."
Avengers has not been a phenomenal success simply on the backs of fanboys. MANY more people have seen the Avengers than ANY of the previous individual character movies - which indicates that you DON'T have to have prior knowledge of the singular characters in order for the group movie to work.
What you DO need is an entertaining movie (translate - FUN) with a broad appeal. The key is balance - which the Avengers got just right. Their movie doesn't take itself so seriously it can't have fun, but it's not so tilted to the camp side that it's embarrassing.
Warner's can do this - successfully - but they have to understand their properties. Something they have yet to do.

You've got Superman coming... Start another Batman... Wonder Woman could easily be done!(WB call me!)... Flash too... Green Lantern 2 right now would be banned by every Red State out of their fear of "the gays" but he doesn't need another movie. Then do Justice League. To just make the Justice League randomly with new actors in super hero roles. Well geeks will see it but a lot of regular joe idiots will either look at it as an Avengers rip off or simply not be as excited because it's not connected to existing story lines.
Don't get me wrong I want this to happen. I love the Avengers but something felt off. A Justice League movie with Batman, Superman, Aquaman, Lantern, Flash and Wonder Woman would feel very right.

Flash is apparently already in the works, though completely unnecessary. Who gives a crap about a jokey dude who runs really fast.
Aquaman would be silly as a stand alone, but could work when kept to a minimum in an ensemble piece.

Gangster Squad? Really? That qualifies this guy to write a Justice League movie script?
What about someone who knows/respects the DC characters? Wouldn't that make a good starting point for this movie?

I just don't see how he would fit into a JLA movie very well unless they just so happened to be facing some sort of ocean threat. And what's the liklihood of that?
JLA should be Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash and Hawkman. Although they'll probably do Hawkgirl just to even out the hormones. They might even do John Stewart instead of Hal Jordan so that he can bang Hawkgirl.

Guys are already going to see it as long as they pick a hot chick and deliver on the action.
But, if they successfully court the female demographic they could turn out in droves from 5 year old princesses to Great Grandmothers who remember WW being the only female superhero representing them.

Like the zooming in on the "SF" sheild with the star thingees and the weird sound effect.
Imaginext does a whole line of DC superhero toys and I've bought some for my son. He loves the Bat Cave playset. It came with a DVD that includes a Superfriends episode especially created for Imaginext with their character models. It's got the narration, the scene transitions I mentioned, all of it. It's fantastic.
Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDSj5ZvlbuU

"Fish Outta Water!!!" <p>
While our spinning blue orb is 70% covered in water...NOBODY LIVES THERE...which takes down the threat level of Aqua Man's ability to defend the citizens of Earth. <p>
Unless the Justice leagues big baddies come from the sea...rather than some distant galaxy (ala The Avengers)...his usefulness is limited to a few gimmicky plot points that don't really warrant his appearance in the film. <p>
I mean...sure...Aqua Man could get a sperm whale to crash into an undersea power junction box to thwart the villain's power source at a critical moment in the film...but....couldn't Superman do the same thing w/o resorting to telepatically communicating with a fish? (I know...it's a mammal. But fish is funnier!). <p>
Just saying...after the debacle that was Battleship...where a fleet of warships was no match for the alien invaders...what good is one man and his fish friends going to be? <p>
I mean...that iconic sweeping pan shot around of all The Avengers standing back to back in the middle of NYC was just so awesome. Now...I'm trying to imagine that same shot recreated in a JLA movie... <p>
Supes...awesome!...Batman...cool!...Wonder Woman...good stuff, good stuff!... Green Lantern....ok...yea... Aqua Man....wait? What? What the FUCK is Aqua Man doing in this shot?!! Get back in the damn water, Gill Man!! <p>
Face it... Aqua Man is the Coast Guard of superheroes.

You think Whedon was good for Avengers? Imagine Brad Bird for Justice League! Sure, Bird probably would never accept working for WB again, after what happened with Iron Giant but... aw, shit, it's Warner, a Justice League movie will be a rushed half-assed turd like Green Lantern. Wait and see.

Captain America is a rip-off of Superman
Iron Man is a rip-off of Batman
Black Widow is a rip-off of Wonder Woman
Hawkeye is a rip-off of Green Arrow
Ant-Man is a ripoff of The Atom
Namor is a rip-off of Aquaman
Even Spider-Man working at a newspaper is directly ripped off from Superman. Stan Lee has said this himself.
In fact, the Avengers is a rip-off from JLA! Again, Lee has admitted this.

Superman - Gold
Establish an alternate to the established Man of Steel, and conviently alters the origin enough to make Kal-L a superjumping, sqaurejaw, rough and tumble alternative to the big blue boy scout. Sets up the idea of the DC Cinematic Multiverse, with Gold being film's Earth-2.
Flash - Sliver
Silver and unsubtitled movie versions exist on Earth-1. Bury the origin / villian structure and revive the multi-character arcs combinations that are staple of serialized comics. Barry Allen's flash should be multi-decade, multi-villian epic as his film where he continually expands is power to the cosmic, and then culminate in NOT a JLA movie but a Crisis movie.
In otherwords, stop trying to go where the ball was, go where the ball is going to be. Invent, don't copy.

Saved by the writer's strike! And they can't make a Batman/Superman movie first - the whole selling point of JLA will be the first team-up of Bats and Supes. The flop that was Green Lantern forced WB to skip steps (solo WW, Flash and Aqua-Man movies) so now they have to jump right to the Justice League. Make JLA about Superman getting himself into a position where he can't fix everything by himself (an inherent problem with such a powerful character) and have he and/or Batman discover these other heroes. Even as I type these words, I'm realizing what a challenge this will be!

We hear a voice over telling of how Earth's most powerful heroes and villains died a few years earlier in "The Great Crisis." All that's left is a few second stringers and retired dissilusioned heroes: Blue Beetle defends Chicago. His best friend Booster Gold defends what's left of Metropolis.
After years of low superhuman activity a new Royal Flush gang attacks Central City, bringing the Flash (Wally West...Barry Allen was part of the Crisis) out of retirement to fight them off. Booster and Beetle show up and repel the massive attack, an attempt to plant some sort of beacon (which was partially successful.) The Gang is unmasked to reveal strange alien starfish attached to their faces.
Supervillain activity picks up all over the world. Green Lantern (John Stewart, Hal's replacement) returns from deep space duty to warn of an approaching attack. Sinestro has assembled the Sinestro Corp and conquered Oa. The Central Battery is safe, but the GL Corps is decimated. Earth will be next in a matter of weeks. Stewart immediately recognizes the starfish. Istarossurr (Booster: "It's Starro, sir?") is an alien conqueror and part of Sinestro's plan, a giant organism that controls sentient beings with its smaller spawn.
Soon even superheroes, some long forgotten, have joined the villains in subversive criminal activity across the globe--and they all have starfish spawns controlling them (conveniently covering their faces so you could roll out TONS of legacy heroes and villains without worrying about "face" actors) Nightwing emerges from Gotham along with Oracle and a plan to retaliate...but they need to find Wonder Woman, the only major player to survive the Crisis, and who both immediately went off the map afterwards. The only person in the "normal" world who can find the secret way to Themyscira is Harley Quinn.
Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman, Nightwing, and Oracle, with Booster Gold and Blue Beetle for comic relief (and let's face it, we're killing Blue Beetle) fight off about 30 "retired" heroes and villains, and save the world from Starro and the Sinestro Corps. By the end of the movie (or trilogy, or whatever,) they've not only repulsed the attack but discovered that the original Crisis was a preemptive strike to banish Earth's most powerful superhumans from stasis the Anti-Matter universe. Earth's greatest heroes return...unfortunately so do its greatest villains, including Lex Luthor, who is now more determined than ever to reshape the world under his thumb for "protection."
The solo movies begin.

You do this well by taking it seriously. If Nolan can make Batman work again after the camp joke he became, then you can make a great JLA movie.
It's such a visual entity with a characters steeped in history. Not only did I grow up with these characters (Im 41), so did my dad and his brothers.
I'm not into the whole Marvel v DC thing. I don't compare. I take each character on merit, and if they can't do something spectacular with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman batting for the same team, then Warner bros should just hand the property to someone who can.
They don't need to take a leaf out of Marvels approach and introduce the idea as films go along. Marvel had SHIELD as the connection between all their characters to come together. The JLA has to be more organic, a one off that doesn't interfere with the stand alone films. Then take it from there.

The show SUCKED people. It was fucking horrible. if WB have ANY brains in their heads, they'll use MofS to move into a JLA film and THEN use that to reboot Batman and launch other films. BUT do NOT ignore what has happened in GL and bring Reynolds in as GL. I'm OK with a new Batman. It's going to happen at some point, just pull the trigger on it with JL.
WB SHOULD take a note from Marvel. Despite a few MINOR missteps in Phase 1 (I actually am ok with IM2, but I know a lot of folks aren't), they've done it right.

... marvel took the greatest risk that any studio has taken in recent history outside of the massive spending on cameron films. each one of their pre-avengers films had to work (2 iron mans, hulk, captain america, and thor) - that's five $200 million dollar gambles - in order for avengers to work, and let's be honest, the incredible hulk really didn't work but the character was so well handled in avengers that the audience forgave that misfire. with the difficulty of any film successfully going from script to screen, that essentially like putting hundreds of millions on a team winning the super bowl at the start of the season. what kind of idiot would do that? marvel did it and won, and that's why they deserve to take a victory lap. as for those saying DC has weak heroes, i think any character can be a successful superhero film with the right vision behind the launch and the right actor in the role. the idea of iron man as franchise was a joke 5 years ago.

***Re-edited***
With all the crap that is on TV, if it was done right, it could be a revolutionary step in small screen / big screen crossovers. Hell, throw it on the big screen too if you want, a good story doesn't have to have a huge budget or take forever to put together.
Think about it, it would be a totally different approach and the marketing alone might make the buildup to a JL movie standout from what the Avengers did.
You could run 2 or 3 of the unknown characters in a miniseries to set them up for the movie. You might not have to spend as much money or time as multiple movies and still accomplish your goal of getting the general public ready and excited for a JL movie.

That's just so lazy a line of thinking. The reason why the hype for The Avengers was so big was because we had gotten to know these characters through their individual films, and were excited to find out that they would finally interact with each other. If Warner starts out with the Justice League before letting the letting the audience get to know the universe of the franchise, the audience's only connection to the characters on the screen willl be their limited knowledge of them in the comics, making them care less about the overall film.
Please don't be so lazy about this WB. Take the time to establish these characters to the viewers, so that when you do make a justice league film, people will actually give a crap about it.

Point for the WB DC characters. WB should do the opposite of what Marvel did. Marvel did single films that built up to Avengers. WB should use Justice League as a jumping off point for the other superheros that dont have their own film yet, and a continuation for the Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern films. Then have all the new films made after JL1 build up to Justice League 2. Im sure the writer they hired is fine, but... the man needed is David Goyer. David Goyer is DC's version of Joss Whedon. WB should hire David Goyer and Paul Dini to come up with a story, get David Goyer to write the script, hire Chris Nolan to produce and oversee the project, and hire Brad Bird or J.J. Abrams to direct. WB needs to be smart about this film, get the very best team behind the camera, and try to get Christian Bale, Henry Cavil, and Ryan Reynolds to sign on. Then get well know, popular actors to play the parts of the other hero's.

What does DC even have? People are going to be tired of Batman after the next movie. Superman? Yeah, good luck with that. Wonder Woman and Green Lantern already tanked less than a year ago. Aquaman is a running joke. The Flash, okay the guy can run fast. I don't want to be contrarian but what exactly does DC have going for it?

I can agree to an extent. David Goyer is not a Joss Whedon. Goyer is great at getting a story together, but he should not write the script. Whedon can do both - story and script, not Goyer (as he's proven many times). Leave the details of the dialogue and removing plot holes to better writers.

Directed by Bob Zemeckis (Yeah i know him like that). This done live action is going to come off as a copy cat to The Avengers (which it won't be) but the general audience will think that. Do a full on motion capture animated ala TinTin style feature and it will be nothing this side of heavenly! DO IT!
DO IT!!

They should wait and see how Man of Steel does. If it does well get a Wonder Woman film in production. WW is pretty much immortal. Take a page from Cap and have it set in during WW2. Have a renegade from WW's home working with nazi's. maybe they're reverse engineering a ufo from Apokalips. Follow with Man of Steel 2 with Lex Luthor working with Apocalips tech or agents. Foreshadow the coming of Darkseid. Reintroduce Batman in a somewhat stand alone film, but have Diana show up post credits to ask for Bats help. She's putting together a team. Make her the glue that holds Bats and Supes together. JLA film introduce Flash and Green Lantern. Five members, keep it lean. You can inroduce more in a JLA2. JLA vs Darkseid. Sure it kind of swipes the Marvel formula but it could work.

And it flopped. I'm talking film world here, not comic book world. It doesn't matter at this point that Flash originally came out in the 40's, we're talking now. Movie going public will associate team movies with Marvel first.

Even as a comic book reading kid, I couldn't get past the THICK layer of cheese that was slathered over nearly every DC character. Even a well constructed character might get a hilariously retarded name like "Sinestro" - geezus... who was writing these things, George Lucas?

It won't work for DC. All comic book characters have had their really stupid storylines (e.g. Spider-Man clone), but the DC universe is just chock full of this kind of magical idiocy.
DC would be better off introducing one superhero at a time, like Marvel, in order to build the audience's tolerance to the cheesiness. After all, who would have ever thought that Marvel could successfully adapt for film a story-line like, say, The Infinity Gauntlet? But now they probably could pull it off.

...and fuck it all up. It's gonna be hard to introduce ALL of these characters in one shot, sort them out, make it it believable and, oh ya...tell a good story at the same time. Good luck with that.<p>

1) Sure. That's why he keeps getting work right?
2) Let's see...
http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2011_J._Edgar/2011_j_edgar_041.jpg
http://static7.depositphotos.com/1003504/695/i/950/depositphotos_69568 11-Superman.jpg
I believe we're done.
3) Really? I'm interested in Hammer AS AN ACTOR who can DO THE JOB. If we barred actors from roles because someone kinda, sorta didn't like them as a person there wouldn't be any movies.

I watched the show religiously the first 6 seasons. Bought S7 outright... boy did it SUCK. That's when the show really took a nosedive.
Up until S7 I could forgive all the stupid shit (like Clark having his powers transferred to other people - WTF??? or removed altogether), but it really got AWFUL in S7.
Then, S8 got phenomenally better. I really liked how they handled Doomsday in a "human" form. I might be in the minority there, but up until the last episode I thought things were really well done over all. Then, the climax sucked.
Then S9-10 BLEW HARD. Wow, did they ever fuck that show right the fuck up. And the finale? What. The. FUCK?! HORRIFYINGLY BAD. I knew going into it that it disappointed nearly everyone on the planet still giving a shit about the show, so I lowered my expectations as far as they could go... and it *still* SUCKED.
So, while I wouldn't be so quick to blanket the whole show as a suckfest (for being on the air 10 years, it did a lot right too), it definitely ended very, very poorly.
Gough and Milar should've been listened to and their vision for the show followed. Then, at least, we would've gotten an ending worthy of the Supes name.
So, while I don't agree with you 100%, I agree that we need to keep Welling far away from Superman from now on. His Exec Producer position the last couple years are proof he shouldn't be Superman as he has no idea what to do with the character.

There's no shame Warner Bros. in copying the Marvel Studios blueprint. They had a vision, planned it out, and took a big risk (even before Disney bought Marvel Comics) and it paid off big time.
You guys first need to appoint someone to be in charge of bringing this DCU movieverse to the big screen. Who is your Kevin Feige? There are too many clueless chiefs and not enough indians (see Green Lantern Movie which proves this point).
Bring onboard Paul Dini and Bruce Timm who have a much better understanding of these DC characters than the clueless trio of Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, and Dan Didio.
The most important thing is to take your time with these movies. There is no need to rush. As long as you make good movies that are entertaining, people will go to the theatre and see them.

I've read the script and here is a summary of how close we came to this:
It begins with the funeral of one of the Justice League. Superman is in his black uniform.
Cut to a few days earlier:
Batman has a satellite("Brother Eye") he uses to spy on the rest of the Justice League and document their weaknesses. Something overrides the computer and takes control when he leaves the batcave.
Barry The Flash (has the classic costume ring) is in it ...as well as Wally. They hang out with each other playing speed "ping-pong" (wtf).
Brother Eye targets Martian Manhunter and somehow sets himself on fire. Barry and Wonderwoman (wtf) come rescue him but he keeps combusting. So, Superman helps them put Manhunter in WW's pool (wtf).
Investigating what's happening with MM, Superman visits Aquaman, who's hand has been replaced with a hand made of water (wtf).
An OMAC attacks Batman and we see Maxwell Lord and Talia Ra Ghul is behind everything, including getting control of Brother Eye.
John Stewart , the Green Lantern(not Hal Jordan), gets infected when he uses his ring.
Aquaman, WW, Barry, and Superman are at WW place when AM gets stung by a mechanical mosquito (wtf) which makes him Aquaphobic (wtf). Because of this, his water hand freaks him out and he discards it, but, luckily, it attaches itself and covers MM and prevents him from catching on fire anymore.
MM senses GL's pain and Superman and Barry go to help. He's become blind but they bring him back with the rest of the group.
Barry visits Wally who is hacking into computer systems to find clues as to what's happening "near the speed of light" (wtf). Wally wants to put on the Flash suit, but, Barry says he never wants to see him in it. Then, Barry goes to see his wife where they have some sort of weird "speed sex": "She GASPS... feeling him inside of her, all of her, inside her very molecules." (W-T-F)
Batman is in his cave when his computer goes apeshit and shows him everything that has been happening to the other superheroes.
Superman takes everyone to the Fortress of Solitude for protection. Its nothing like the Donner version, closer to the comic version: Large statues of Jor-el and Lara, an exact life-size replica of the Kent farm, etc.
Batman shows up ...in Superman's super-secret-fortress... (wtf). He explains Brother Eye, why he created it and that Lord has control of it now. Superman gets pissed, slams Batman against a wall and WW punches Batman in the face.
Barry gets a call from his wife on his cell (wtf). Batman tells him not to answer, but he does, and a nano spider crawls out (wtf), enters his ear, attaches itself to his spine, and makes him vibrate faster than he ever has before. Which sends him straight through the ground and earth, coming up again in Antarctica, then back down through the earth to the Fortress again. WW uses her lasso to stop him.
Superman uses his x-ray vision and sees that all the superheroes have nano spiders attached to their spines (wtf). They come up with the idea that ...GL use his ring to construct surgerical equipment and use it to get out the spiders, having MM be his "eyes"(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Its a success.
Batman flies back to his cave and finds his own file created by Brother Eye about his weakness: Love ( wtf ). He figures out that this must mean Talia is involved and tracks her down.
Barry and WW are in a diner so Barry can carbo load up (wtf). Wally meets them there with info from the computer files.
Batman confronts Talia who says she's doing all this because he broke her heart (WTF).
Wally reveals that the OMAC project was trying to create psychic warriors (wtf), but only one survived ...MAXWELL LORD.
Batman confronts Lord with Talia. Lord reveals his master plan: to complete the psychic warrior programing by infecting superheroes. Lord attacks.
MM senses what's happening and everyone goes to Lord, except Barry who goes back to D.C. to investigate reports of OMAC robots attacking people.
The superheroes corner Lord, who uses his mind powers to convince Superman that WW killed Lois. Superman goes apeshit and starts fighting WW. Aquaman calls all the fish in the sea to attack Superman (LMAOWTF). GL creates a green Superman who fights the real Superman. Lord gloats that the only way to end things is to kill him, which the superheroes can't. Batman sneaks up behind him and breaks his neck.
Talia then becomes an OMAC robot: Part Lord, Brother Eye, and Talia all in one. She even has monitors on her and looks like a robot (W-T-F). Talia/Lord/Brother Eye reveal that Lord used his buisness conections to implant nano spiders all over the world. Scenes of people turning into OMAC robots flash on Talia/Lord/Brother Eye's monitor/robot body (*sigh* wtf). She/He/It send ALL of the OMAC robots to attack the superheroes.
Batman goes after Talia/Lord/Brother Eye to help Talia, while the rest wait for the OMAC robots. Wally appears in the Flash costume and says he's going to help.
Batman joins them and tells them Talia's okay and Lord/Brother Eye has found a new host ...BARRY.
Barry turns into a huge OMAC robot (WTF). He starts to vibrate fast enough to leave his robot form and freeze time. He goes to see his wife and tell her goodbye (W-T-F). He comes back into his robot form and begins to run really, really fast. So fast he goes through all of the OMAC robot-humans on earth, making the OMAC molecules stay with him and detach from the humans. Wally joins him and says he's going too fast and should stop. Barry says "Tag, you're it" then runs even faster, leaving Wally behind. Barry runs so fast he breaks the speed barrier and destroys himself and the OMAC molecules, including Lord.
The superheroes find Barry's empty costume and Wally cries.
Cut back to the funeral:
The superheroes agree to form the Justice League and get ready for another battle.
The new villian is ...Starro the Conqueror (WTF).

It doesn't seem like it would be something that would be too hard to do. Plenty of great comic stories out there, and it's something that could be lower budgeted and still come out right as long as the script was good.

And they, via several top Warner executives, claimed just last year, that they would never make a Justice League film? This shows you how messed-up the company, Warner, truly is, and how deeply schizophrenic they are. Warner and DC have no faith in their own characters, they have no real development or business strategy to market them, they just run their business on whim, and there a few quality controls--look at Green Lantern for instance, and the firing of The Avengers director/writer Joss Whedon from Wonder Woman. Oh, the perfect irony here!!! Now, the whole group of them are looking like fools in front of the entire industry as they could have been working on their 3rd or 4th Justice League film by now, their 2nd Batman vs Superman, their 3rd Wonder Woman film, and a second or 3rd The Flash movie, etc., but no, none of that has ever happened, not even the first of those films has come to light. Warner and DC have largely proven themselves to be laughably incompetent.

about Thor, ron Man and even Captain America. (Also Hulk was dead as a character and even seen as a negative presence in an Avengers film.)
So their solo films first strategy, risky as it was, was the best way to do it. If they had Spider-Man maybe they wouldn't have felt that need, but it worked. DC tried that route, but Green Lantern was a bad start, so maybe they don't want to bother. Why should they. Lantern may not have been a hit but the character is well known now. If they keep Cavill's Superman (Which is not a cert givn that there previous JL movie was going to have totally different Batman & Superman to the Nolan & Singer ones which were planned to run alongside the L movies), then they could have a current movie Superman, Ryan Reynolds GL and Batman (Who is famous enough no mater who now plays him) and that would be enough to get a JL movie going for the public.
It just has a lot to live up to as far as entertaining spectacle and ensemble casting goes.

No. Just no. That isn't true on any level at all.
It could easily be argued that Batman alone has more adult themes than any Marvel character.
(Though, I truly see no point in comparing Marvel and DC as there are things to like and dislike about both of them.)

I will be the first to admit that I do not know a whole lot about the DC universe, but I think the reason there has not been a successful Superman movie in over 25 years is the very nature of DC, specifically Superman himself.
To me, DC super heroes are the godlike creatures immune to damage and seemingly unlimited power. Where is the tension in a story when the main guy cannot be hurt by anything but a super rare space rock, that the bad guys always seem to find.
If there is no tension, nothing to risk, then I am basically watching something akin to a jedi beat up worthless droids for 2 hours.....no thanks, I'll pass.
The only other problem I see with the JLA is the disparity in power....Superman can fly through space, batman has a few gadgets....how do both of these people occupy the same universe and fight the same super villain?
Anyway, just my thoughts....I hope it does well...I love super hero movies and want them all to succeed.

June 6, 2012, 5:01 p.m. CST

by nefarius1

It's not about introducing the characters rather the actors playing them and getting people used to them. Marvel's strategy worked because we liked the people playing the characters we couldn't wait to see them together interacting. If you go into a JLA movie and say the actor playing Bats or Supes is horrible the wheels will start coming off pretty quick.

last time the justice league movie was ramping up in 07 i believe, the talkbacks went fucking insane and it was some of the funniest times in aicn history. and then the movie got shelved! a perfect ending to a hilarious time on aicn. im looking foward to these next few months on aicn, although the movie is obviously going to suck cock.

It is fantasy afterall on the big screen.
As for this JLA movie, I wouldn't expect much good because WB is clueless on how to go about it correctly. They are a chicken without its head running around aimlessly. Chris Nolan was just lightning in a bottle for WB.

Cap and Thor had lower budgets with marketing tie ins to a hit movie Iron Man. John Carter and Green Lantern cost much more to make and had no promotion from other movies ect. A good flash movie could be made for cheap, all he does is run fast, JL cartoon from cartoon network is a great take on the Flash

I think you have to go from small to behemoth I'm not sure the individual franchises will be helped by the behemoth the way The Avengers was aided by all the smaller ones doing the leg work and giving you characters to care about. I'm just not sure the reverse way will work, still a Justice League movie would probably do ok business...

Will they in Man of Steel?
Nolan's Batman and Snyder's Superman have such distinctive looks, I don't know how they can have those two franchises even related to a JL movie, but I'm all for it.
I won't be surprised if it sucks, though I hope it doesn't.

Please for the love of the GODS, don't bore us with Character introductions and background setup. WE KNOW who these characters are for fuck sakes!!!
Sure give us some background but don't bog down the entire picture with that shit. Get right to the evil asshole causing issues and let the characters be who they are! Then you'll have a great movie on your hands.

This is how it needs to look...minus some hokey dialog...this trailer for DC Universe captures the epicness that needs to happen. <p>
http://www.220.ro/gaming/Justice-League-DC-Universe-2012-Game-Trailer/yk7AsGCdVO/

The video games trailers always looked better then any of the other DC movies that are put out plus you could do so much more. Dc is not very reality based and would benefit from the freedom of reallty.

...Superman tried in vain to swallow the nervous lump in his throat while Batman scanned the room for a viable superhero to team up with before shaking his head in disbelief.
On the far side of the room, Aquaman drew "clean up the purple monkey shit" duty... again.

Dont think Im hating on the Avengers. I friggin loved that movie, and you wouldn't believe the trouble I went through to get into that premier. The movie was great and fun! But, thats not the JLA. The Justice Leagues serious and awesome, like Nolan's Batman series. I hope that flash and GL (I actually didnt hate ryan reynolds, but its not even close to the best DC could do) go the way that the Avengers did, (Fun and great) but the other members (Superman, Wonder Woman (Batmans already done), the martian guy who i cant remember the name) get awesome and serious movies, like the Dark Knight. This as been my longest comment on AICN

I will hope beyond all hope that they get it right. But I do believe that someone posted that JLA should be better then anything we saw in Avengers and they are correct. If WB wants to spin their characters off into franchises from one major film? then they need to get it SO DAMN RIGHT or they burn multiple bridges all at once.
The reason I have no faith in this though is because this is the same company that brought us Green Lantern, Superman Returns, Catwoman, Batman and Robin, Steel..
They are constantly compromising their own characters...changing them not for the better, but for god know what reason, and when they appear on film, were lucky if we recognize them.
Avengers got it so so so right. I can't imagine us being so lucky as to then seeing a JLA movie that actually holds up or even raises the bar...Can't see it from them. I would love to be proven wrong though.
Sorry to mention Superman Returns in the list, but even though I actually loved the movie as a love letter to the Donner film, it really does miss it's opportunity to inject a new sense of amazement to him. The movie is not kind to you when you try to watch it again...

he's been dating Green Lantern for years using Cat Woman as his beard. Wonder Woman's plane is a transformer and wants equal pay in any movie she's in; Aquaman got The Little Mermaid pregnant years ago and went bankrupt paying child support after his 'diy abortion' didn't take and Superman sniffs kryptonite a.k.a. pixie dust.
Like infinity, DC's Fails know no limit

Things that trailer gets soooo right. <p>
1. No fucking Aqua Man. <p>
2. The whole scope of it...Fighting in what looks like 9-11 ground fuckin zero. No matter how bad things got in The Avengers...it never got THAT bad! <p>
3. The layering of all the villains appearances. Popping up in front and behind each other. <p>
4. Superman fucking OWNING Shazam's ass...Never seen Supes that fucking beserk before. I liked it. <p>
5. Also love they story...Lex getting the back seat treatment to Braniac...and actually helping the JL... when he's probably just using them to get what he REALLY wants. <p>
6. The slow-mo to fast action shit is hard on the eyes...but that trailer got it right. <p>
7. Wonder Woman is hawt.

Dear Warner Bros Execs,
DC Comics should have their own movie subdivision to helm these movies. Yes, I know DC is under WB, but the DC brain trust should have more creative control and oversight over their property like Marvel does. I'm assuming DC understands and cares more about their creative properties than WB does. You clearly have no idea about what to do with these characters and are only in it to make money. Coming out with a JLA movie so quickly is a mistake and NO ONE outside of comic fans with have any investment in the characters outside of Batman ... maybe Superman depending on how well Zack Snyder does. WB/DC should realize that they have an advantage over Marvel/Disney in that they still OWN all of their characters. Take a page out of Marvel and build up the anticipation first. There's no way you can give justice to all of these characters in ONE movie. They will just come off as 2D characters. Yes, follow Marvel, but do it better!
Start with Zack's Superman (hopefully it'll be good), Wonder Woman, Flash, JLA, and then reboot Batman. Green Lantern is dead until after JLA thanks to all involved minus Mark Strong because he was the only good thing in that movie. Give some time off to Batman. Don't do a quick reboot like what Sony is doing with Spiderman ... it's too soon and will tarnish/lessen the brand.
*Why Wonder Woman?
- Treat this like the Thor movie. She is a "fish out water" character in the modern world. She doesn't wear a damn swimsuit bikini like in that FAILED David E. Kelly TV pilot. It's Amazonian leather garb and metal ARMOR! Don't be afraid to show some leg! Think Zena Warrior Princess/Lucy Lawless and the outfit will look good and make sense. You could show variations to her costume like in the Captain America First Avenger movie. Get an real actress (that can act) that is pleasing to the eye, feminine, but also looks like she can hurt someone if she punched you ... someone with real black hair and TALL. She carries a lasso/whip and a sword, and has her origins in Greek mythology so she has a great look and back story. Done right, Wonder Woman will be awesome. Outside of Batman and Superman, WW is the 3rd most prominent character in the entire DC universe ... treat her with respect and care. A woman can't carry a movie? Check out Hunger Games, Underworld, T2, and Aliens. Beat out Marvel and have a great female superhero movie.
*Why Flash?
- There hasn't been a SPEED superhero movie yet. It's different. He's wise-cracking ... at least Wally West is. He's also one of the most powerful and potentially one of the most visually exciting heroes to be on screen. He can vibrate through walls, travel through time, he's faster than Superman, and has one of the most awesome and fun ROGUES GALLERY outside of Batman. Just do it! Ryan Reynolds would've been good for this role ... not GL.
*Why not Cyborg?
- Maybe. Out of all the other major "classic" JLA members like Aquaman, Hawkman/Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, he's human (therefore more relatable), he's hi-tech (makes him unique and modern), he's a minority (little risky but Marvel is doing a Black Panther movie too), and DC is making him a prominent figure in JLA now. He's a lesser known major JLA member that is very different than anything we have seen superhero-wise in the theaters. He's not Robocop or the Terminator. WB/DC may have to make him face a more notable DC villain to attract more interest though. Maybe a team-up/cameo with another hero? Perhaps not a full-feature length, but maybe a 30 minute short before the Flash. This could be a method for WB/DC to introduce other lesser known heroes as well.
*Why not Aquaman?
- Water movies are expensive, plus the feel would be too similar to Wonder Woman. Isn't he also considered useless on land? An Aquaman movie does have the potential though to be visually beautiful and stunning. No hook for a hand please.
*Why not Hawkman/Hawkgirl?
- Space and ancient mythology together. Hawkgirl could be fun (see JL Unlimited), but too similar to WW.
*Why not Manhunter?
- Hard to relate to a green alien who doesn't look human. (I know he can look human with his alter-ego.) Powers are also too similar to Superman. Yes, I know he has telepathy, can shape-shift and phase. Don't compare him to the Hulk. Hulk is more awesome on the big screen.
*Why not another Green Lantern?
- Yes, but only after JLA and perhaps with the black GL John Stewart. I think the Ryan Reynolds version has left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. Damn you Martin Campbell, stupid TV writers, and casting folks. I did not see where that $200 million was spent ... looked like crap. Did you watch The Avengers? Yea, I saw the money up there too. This was supposed to be the first superhero in space. What a wasted opportunity! Big cloud monster? Really? Didn't you learn that sort of villain is lame. (See Fantastic Four - Rise of the Silver Surfer.) Yes, I know Parallax was from the comics, but it should've been kept as a threat in the background and it should've been focused on the rise and fall of Sinestro and his relationship to Hal as mentor, friend, and ally. Sinestro was the greatest of the lanterns ... I wanted to see that story and why he fell. When Sinestro "turned" yellow at the end of the movie, it didn't make sense and did not hurt. We didn't care that he turned "bad". We didn't care he betrayed the corps because he was always such a distant character. And Hector Hammond as the villain? So GL fights a telepathic guy with a big head ... how interestingly BORING! How about the Manhunters who were the original protectors of the universe created by the Guardians? (Avoid the ugly threatless looking Ironman 2 and Star Wars prequel droid look please.) Lyssa Drak? Mongul and Warworld? And Hal at the very end discovers that Sinestro, his mentor/friend was behind it all. This could've been the Star Wars of superhero movies, introducing us to fantastic worlds and alien creatures/monsters.
Think of GL as the Hulk of the group. Failed movie, but with HUGE potential for awesomeness.
Now WB, please choose top notch directors, writers, and actors like you did for Batman. Don't skimp. People who actually care, have a understanding, and will have passion for the property. Snag talent like Brad Bird and Michael Vaughn for some of these projects. Look at the inspired choices Marvel made to kick off their SUCCESSFUL franchises. Yes, you don't want to copy Marvel, but YOU ARE. FACE IT. JLA was dead and is alive again due to the success of THE AVENGERS. Copy them, but DO IT BETTER. Learn from your failed experiments with Superman Returns (good director and actor, bad story/dated Donner-worship, bad Lois, super-depressing, horrible color scheme, boring/lack of action, and using the SAME TIRED villains over and over) and GL.
Signed,
Disgruntled Fan
P.S. I know no one of importance will read this or care about what a fanboy has to say, but I needed to vent. :)

I agree! If this JLA movie fails they would be burning bridges on both ends! Both JLA as name and most/all of the characters in it will be tarnished and tainted as well. This JLA seems to be an act of desperation from WB. Clueless f-ing execs. I'm surprised you were able to get Batman and all those Harry Potter movies right. Maybe it was luck with finding Nolan and the fact Chris Columbus, with all his faults, established the tone/look and casted it so damn well from the beginning.

To begin with, they knew full fucking goddamn well that Marvel was leading up to The Avengers with Iron Man 1 and 2 and Incredible Hulk and Thor and Captain America well before Green Lantern went into production. They fucking knew this and it was their responsibility to make it mandatory for Green Lantern to at least include SOMETHING IN THE FUCKING MOVIE to indicate that Green Lantern is part of a shared DC film universe. Have a quick scene with Barry Allen or Green Arrow or even have some shlub cameo as Clark Kent, it didn't have to be Henry Cavill.
As it stands now, GL had zero references to any other DC characters outside of the GL comics and WB fucked up again. If they really wanted to have individual films lead up to a JLA movie then GL would have been their Iron Man to light the fuse. They either let GL remain stand-alone because Martin Campbell and Ryan Reynolds and the writers wanted it that way which would be hilarious if they gave in to some peculiar demand like that or they are just fucking stupid. I'm guessing it's the latter.
They have another chance with Man of Steel to tell Hack Snyder to put something in the movie that says this Superman shares his world with the other characters from JLA. If they don't want a JLA movie to look fucking ridiculous with zero solo films to lead up to it and having some rebooting unoriginal retarded screenwriter just shit out some script then that's their choice.
A solo JLA movie will not make any sense after audiences were led up to The Avengers with individual films. It will just come off as a lame and desperate attempt to replicate what The Avengers did and WB thinks they can cut corners and get the same results without first laying the groundwork that Marvel did.
Man of Steel will bomb because no one gives a fuck about a remake of Superman II and that's all that horseshit will be no matter what Hack Snyder says. The only DC films that WB ever got right were the first 2 Superman films, the first 2 Tim Burton Batman films, and the Nolan Batman trilogy. They just fucked up everything else and JLA will be no different.

Since they've already established (sorta in an unsatisfying way), they could have them battle the Sinestro Corps since that's the only good thing from Green Lantern. They can always bring in Darkseid for the sequel.

I think clearly they won't get Christian Bale as batman. Nor would it be workable.
I think they should also keep it seperate from the current superman franchise.
Just create a Justice League universe which can be whatever it needs to be.
Ryan Reynolds can be back though. I actually think they should keep him as the green lantern, no matter what they do.
Although I honestly think, something done animated like that DC Universe Online Trailer would be amazing. Done with Avatar level motion capture.

Why?
Go back to the early word about the Avengers and you'll have everyone shit on it... especially when Ed Norton was axed and Whedon was signed.
I'm not saying that this movie will be great, but to whining "DC characters are lame!" is stupid. Even Aquaman has had some good story arcs.
This movie can be good. It could suck. But all this whining... annoying.

I think what annoys me most about the universe is that Superman can do the same job as any one of the other heroes. He's the strongest of the bunch, as fast as Flash, he's smart, with his silly x-ray vision, heat-vision and freezing breath to boot. Oh yeah and he can turn back time. He's overpowered, making the rest of the heroes weak by comparison. Unless someone has some kryptonite... then he is useless. Yawn.

Okay, if DC gets it right, like say what they did with Nolan Batman, (even though for arguments sake, he's still not the essential Batman, but he comes close, I am still waiting for the Detective part) and they hit a home run with JLA, then, spin offs would be a perfect side affect.
First off, they need to have the Real JLA and not a bunch of Side Characters with a couple of heavy hitters, it needs to be the big 7. They should not shy away from Superman and Batman, they just need to be properly used in the film, superman needs to be occupied by a villain that would actually take all his measure to take down, a threat that only he could take on, that lets him have to rely on the team to save the rest of the world while he takes on the baddy. It would suck donkey balls, if say they depower him or make him evil...because it's a cop out,"uh how do we deal with superman being too powerful? Oh, take away his power, no wait mind control!!" Make him be powerful, but make the threat be even more menacing, or more mind boggling, that he is matched.
Batman, has to be there, but he doesn't have to be there in the bright shiny light of glory, just skulking around here and there, when needed, he is Batman, he has something up his sleeve at all times.
Please, no overlong origins, just the story of bringing them together, maybe some backstory to who they are in the beginning establishing their world, and the DC universe, and then let the rest of the team come together and kick major ass.
The Villain HAS to be bigger then a Poop monster cloud, bigger then Zod, bigger then Thanos, Darkseid and his minions, Brainiac with minion robots, Maybe Brainiac with Starro brain control devices mixing the two and bringing relevance to a giant mind controlling starfish?
If there was one weakness in Avengers ,for me, it was that the minion bad guys that the team had to take on, were one minute of screen time away from being fully fleshed out, I wanted one moment with them to see them to feel they were more then just a SFX. So JLA has to do that better.
What I loved in Avengers was when the team actually SAVED people!! Too many times, the main characters in these movies are fighting a self created bad guy, who poses a huge threat to the world, but because the hordes of minions were all over NY, the Avengers actually had to do some real superhero work and save individuals, while trying to save the city.
So!! If WB can get this right, have the characters actually be who they are supposed to be, then they would have built on what Avengers brought to the table and then opened the door to spin off films to further their universe.
It could happen... right???

None of them are remotely right for the roles. Just my observation.
As for the strategy...trying to start big and lead into tie-ins almost invariably leads to dismal failure. Marvel's strategy for Avengers worked far better - we got to get a feel for who these characters are and what they can do BEFORE the movie, so Joss had minimal lifting work in terms of telling backstories and wasting precious running time with half a dozen different origins. Just jumping in is a BAD idea, mark my words. Especially if you re-cast everyone.
It will absolutely be a disaster without prior continuity at play - you simply can't juggle that many characters, the way Whedon did, and make it work in one film without having covered your bases first. THAT is why the Avengers worked. It was slimmed down, and shed all excess exposition and needless origin bullshit. Joss did a great job, true, but I don't think he could have done it all from scratch.
and the comparisons are inevitable after the success of Avengers. This just sounds like something people will promptly shit all over the moment is exits the gate.

I like the "Cyborg" idea actually. A lot. Done on a smallish scale, it could be DC's "Blade." Villain could be Brother Blood's cult. Hints could be made of the greater DC universe; S.T.A.R. Labs, Cadmus, LexCorp, Waynetech, cameo by Amanda Waller, Metropolis, etc.
Holy shit, that may be the perfect starting point.

I'd say many here are following the law of recency. Until the past 10 years, It was DC movies that kicked Marvels ass. The Reeve Superman films, Nolan AND Burton's Batman, not to mention a legacy of popular films and tv series for decades. It was Marvel that had never gotten it together.
Now, Marvel is raking in the cash. Good for everyone, because I means we will get to see movies we dreamed about all our lives.
On another note, the contrarian in me dislikes how popular Avengers is, because it's not the best of these films. Way too long and lots of broken logic. I think the first Iron Man rocked, and part 2 redeemed itself with me recently...it just didn't have the fun spirit the first one had, and the whiplash story came off clunky. Thor was fun, but Cap'n America was kinda balls. I'd be more content with a Nolan stye of film every 5 years over this 2 films a year pace because...
A) quality over greed
B) burnout factor
At some point, average Joe will move on and not care about these characters like you and I do because of overkill. (do we really need an Ant Man movie?) We need average Joe to be on board in order for Hollywood to spend hundreds of millions to make. Without that money, you get The Punisher...or Daredevil...YUCK!
So, if the new Superman reboot works out, and Nolan closes out the trilogy strong like I believe he will, DC will have the public wanting more. It will be the perfect stage for rebooting Batman (Joseph Gordon Levit..nudge nudge) and using these 2 tentpoles to introduce some other heroes. Say what you want, but DC heroes kick major ass, and I'm rooting for them to make it happen.
Wouldn't it be great to see some of the Vertigo
characters on the big screen? I am certain that Neil Gaiman could make it happen! I would love that first run he wrote when he relaunched the character (is it Preludes and Nocturnes?)
So, be careful what you wish for.

That movie has one of the best opening scenes of all time. It sets the tone of the film/story, introduces you to our shady heroes, and is completely unpredictable. The violence is shocking in that is completely unexpected. Just perfection. Could watch that movie anytime.

and this will also be after Man of Steel bombs horribly and there still is most likely no Flash or Wonder Woman movie, if they even bother to finally produce those and stop dicking around.
Cast Lynn Collins as Wonder Woman and just get the fucking movie made. Cast Liam Hemsworth as The Flash. Alexander Skarsgard as Aquaman. Just get these movies done and made and then do the JLA movie.
Ryan Reynolds can still be GL and keep Cavill as Superman. Armie Hammer as Bruce Wayne/Batman.
and don't use the hack that's writing Lethal Weapon and Logan's Run remakes/reboots/same DNA bullshit and wrote the stupid looking Gangster Squad. Hire a good screenwriter. David Hayter could do a great job because he wrote the first 2 X-Men movies.

...and had pretty good success with it, at least financially (ignoring which of the three original main films were better quality-wise)
they also took a shot at doing an origin story post such a movie series (wolverine) which was not universally well-received...
the reason the avengers worked is that the solo films all tied into a story that it was leading to, AND each served as hype building towards the film that collected all the heroes together... *that* was the payoff to the fans, both casual and hardcore comic fans... there's a reason people stuck around for the credits to roll and get that throwaway scene in each of the solo films (although they managed to top that with the avenger throwaway scene! lol)
the fact that they will need to deal with yet another new batman starts them off on the wrong foot right away... people like continuity, and it even killed the BM franchise for a while when they kept switching the lead in the original films (keaton et al), bad script-writing aside... dealing with another new superman will hurt, too, and it sounds like it's not guaranteed that cahill would be part of this, so you would have competing superman actors
it all makes for a confusing and disconnected ensemble for a casual fan to follow, and they need to appeal to the casual fans because they won't make the killer money without them

DC missed a prime opportunity with the last Superman film to lay the foundation for this. I think setting up a film with no background (i.e. solo films) for the characters may be difficult to do. Everyone isn't a fanboy and won't be familiar with J'onn & other lesser know heroes. Also, how will this play with Reynolds, Green Lantern character? Will that be re-booted as well? The other issue is the plot. The Avengers awesomely dealt with an alien invasion & an upcoming intergalactic threat with Thanos. What direction can JLA take? An alien invasion now would seem like "copycating" and I've dreamed of seeing Darkseid on the big screen, but because of the similiarities to Thanos that would seem like a rip off as well. Marvel studios simply was smarter in all aspects of making this work and in the end, "faster". I'm not one for this whole DC vs. Marvel rivalry. I love both companies and I've been reading comics from both since I was five. Anytime a film in this genre does well, it simply opens the door for the next character to be brought to the big screen. I would love to see a JLA film, done right but it's hard to imagine what direction that could take now. Last year's Green Lantern, was simply weak, uninteresting and with few highlights. Mark Strong as Sinestro, worked. Ryan Reynolds wasn't overwhelming as GL, but certainly not his fault. The script and direction can be be blamed for that. The constructs were without imagination. When Sinestro took the group of Lanterns to face Parallex, their constructs consisted of a "fishnet" and blasts. The battle took all of 2 minutes. GL had the potential to be a momentous earth and space epic, but fell short. Perhaps there is a way of making all of this work into a JLA movie and I would love too see it. If next year's Superman film is done right, maybe that door will be opened. With the Dark Knight series ending, introducing a new Batman along with the JLA would be a perfect time. But, thats if and only if Superman is a success. Right now unfortunately I'm leaning towards the negative on this. I saw Henry Cavill on Leno last year promoting Immortals and for me he lacked charisma, charm and seemed shorter than I think the actor portraying the Man of Steel should be. With the reintrouduction of Zod over other great villians to choose from and Zack Snyder's direction leaves me to wonder. Here's to hope!

And they've been saying that shit practically since the new rennaisance of superhero films beginning with Blade/X-Men/Spider-Man.
And superhero films keep breaking records.
This is what people say when THEY PERSONALLY don't like something. They say that everyone else on Earth is a carbon copy of them.
I personally don't like forensics TV shows, but that genre has been riding high for 15 or so years. Would I ever be so retarded as to say =Audiences are sick of forensics shows=? Fuck no!
Anyone who says people are sick of superhero films, particularly when they keep breaking records, is a mouth-breathing fucking RETARD!

That was not the case with the Avengers.
Nobody who was not a Comic Book geek knew who Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow or Hawkeye were.
The Hulk was the only widely known character and that was because there was a movie and a long running tv series.
There were no prior movies or tv series for the other Avengers.
By contrast, there are undiscovered tribes in the Amazon Rain Forests who know who Superman and Batman are.
And Wonder Woman is also a well-known character who had a hit tv series.
You guys are comparing apples and oranges.
A JLA movie is a no-brainer for Warner. If they don't do it, and do it right, they are complete fools.
Who gives a sh*t if it doesn't match Avengers B.O.? It will still make obscene amounts of money. There's not one person on this message board who won't go see it.

The Wes Craven movie was an abortion and the sequel, while funny, was ridiculous. The TV show was crap. I can't remember enough about the animated show to tell if it was garbage or not, but it must have been better than the rest. The Man-Thing movie, Marvel's rip-off of Swamp Thing, was also crap.
I really adored Swamp Thing when I was a kid. I'm not even sure why. He was just visually interesting I guess, along with his environment. I remember one issue in particular when he hopped a box car, traveled to Gotham and Batman beat him to shit because he just assumed he was a villain.
I don't really know how to do Swamp Thing properly. I suppose Darkman in the Swamp would be pretty close, mixed with Creature from the Black Lagoon.
But it's a tough sell in the same way Hulk is in his solo films. He's a deformed monster and it's hard not to make him whiney. It's not the sort of thing people would want to take their kid too because to make it powerful, it would have to be kinda scary and dark.

I remember around the time that Avengers was announced that the Warner execs stated in response soething along the lines that, "our characters are unique and special and are only going to be in stand-alone films without connections to one another. The mythologies of our (DC) characters do not lend themselves to team-up films."
Basically they were counting on the Avengers to fail by shitting all over the plan Marvel had. They shot themselves in their collective asses.
Now they are scrambling to cover their asses and will probably turn out some half-baked film like Green Lantern turned out to be. The lost potential of that film boggles my mind...he fought a cloud for fuck's sake...
The problem is, like in American politics, that the idiot responsible for their shortsightedness and bad decision making will still be sitting in charge of any production that gets greenlighted which means more tinkering with character origins and costumes (because we all know that updating costumes makes the heroes more "edgy."
Whoever the fuck this hack writer is, get rid of his ass right away. Get Bruce Timm and Paul Dini to work their storytelling magic and have a go at creating something special like they continually do with the DC Animated universe and films.
If you wonder how Wonder Woman would work in a film just check out the Animated Wonder Woman film. That rocked! Green Lantern: First Flight was what the Green Lantern movie SHOULD have been.
Same with any of their Justice League films or other works. I want to see a kick-ass JLA film as welll as anyone else. I can only cross my fingers that someone fires the assholes who took the DC films in the opposite direction of Marvel and bring in people who actually have a proven track record with their properties.

The shaky-cam isn't too much, is it?
Every time I watch a movie with excessive shakycam it is kind of like the Gong Show in that it is a countdown of how much can I endure before I am forced to make it stop.

Simply BECAUSE the =kick ass female= is such a prevelant character now. So she's just like them but wears a tierra? That's not good enough.
So the temptation to get =gritty= and/or =realistic= is certainly there to ground it.
I would also kinda like to take her to her WWII roots, but what are you gonna do, freeze her in a fucking iceberg at the end?
What they really need to do is focus on her character. Make her feel like a real person with feelings and internal conflicts. Do this without getting emo, because WW is tough as nails.
Her origin is compelling, particularly how she kinda pulls a Little Mermaid on her mother and flees the nest. It's been played a couple of different ways and I can't remember her original motivation. It was either for love or for a sense that she needs to use her powers to protect the world outside Thymiscera.
The thing is, WW in love is a really dangerous proposition, but to make her a real woman, she should have feelings like that because every woman really wants to be in love. And if you want young girls to go to this movie, that really needs to be in the mix.
I say have her leave for a combination of those things, kill off her boydfriend and that makes her tough as nails. It also puts up a wall in her that makes her super-fierce, but vulnerable.
And in JLA, Bruce gets some o dat wonder pussy.

Maybe she is I don't know.
That doesn't mean she can't be killed, but only that she doesn't age past full maturity and can live forever until killed.
I think that it is good to have it start in WW2, and have her revealed to the world in the past since it is kind of implausible now with global satellite surveillance that there would be an undiscovered island.
I agree the romance should be a large part of the plot and that her lover should be killed in the end and die in her arms.

Some of you don't even need to wait for a blurry set photo or a teaser trailer to proclaim a movie will suck anymore - you just need to know the concept and somehow you just know it will fail without knowing who is helming it, starring in it, what the story is, etc.
Many of you made the same complaints that the Avengers wouldn't work just based on the concept.
Then the issue became Cap's helmet in the early set photos.
Then the trailers came out and OH MY GOD THE MOVIE WILL SUCK BECAUSE HULK WASN'T PROPERLY PLACED IN THE GROUP SHOT.
Give it some goddamn time. Shit. Y'all are the same kind of people who take a hot pocket out a minute early 'cause you're too impatient then bitch about the frozen block in the middle.

You're reaching. Marvel Ultimate has been around for like 10 years or something, & isn't all that "successful." New 52 was an independent idea, something to jumpstart sales in a stagnant business. And honestly the whole "copying" argument sounds like something a 13 year-old would say. Who gives a shit?

i only saw it recently myself, amazing they made it for 15mil, great use of special effects and almost no shakeycam - i don't wanna spoil it but there's a really cool take on using handheld cameras in this film.

Other than Batman and Superman, DC's heroes aren't that great. Green Lantern is decent, but they dropped the ball on that movie big time. Wonder Woman is a horrible character. Yeah, she can fight and look hot, but she's boring. And I never understood the popularity of Flash. Yeah, he can run fast and vibrate to go through a wall. He's not exciting at all. And Aquaman, no one likes Aquaman. And I wasn't going to mention the Martian Manhunter, who is ok, but you'd never want a solo movie from him. The biggest problem with a JLA movie is Batman. With TDKR being Bales last Batman movie, they have to recast. Now will this new Batman take over in the solo movies? I would guess so. You know because of The Avengers, they are going to put a lot of money behind this. They are going to have to put together a great cast to get asses in the seats.

1.-Marvel Studios and Disney Honchos schedule an appointment with Warners heads.
2.-They ask them if they want to make even more money than Avengers made. Then they lead them thru the paces on how to exactly ape Marvel´s buildup towards the team-up.
3.-Then they ask them to sign up to co-finance, co-produce and co-distribute (one foreign, one domestic), once both their team-up trilogies are done,...
4.- DC/WARNER BROS AND MARVEL STUDIOS PRESENT:THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA VS. THE AVENGERS
5.-You just got yourself the new highest grossing motion picture in history.
If that´s not what you want, please start insulting me

It's going to be hard-core aimed at tweens. Expect PG-13. Expect young heart throbs in the roles. Don't expect the characters to be treated properly. Expect and easy to follow story with lots of romance and hero shots. The Hunger League of Twilight. Don't worry, your daughter can talk to you at lengths over whether Diana should be with Kal-El or Bruce. I'm team Kal-El BTW.